What happens when art encounters a collective wound?

These questions gave rise to “On the Shoulders of Giants. Community Art to Rebuild from Xylella”, an Erasmus Plus – ADU project launched in November 2024 in collaboration with Residui Teatro (Spain), which has been active for years in the field of adult education through artistic practices, ecological awareness, and community regeneration.

The project was divided into several stages, intertwining participatory art, research, training, and public restitution, always in dialogue with the landscape and local communities. Three main trajectories guided this journey.

1. Art Residencies

Two open calls gave rise to intense and transformative experiences.

With “Radicate”, an international workshop led by Residui Teatro, artists from different countries immersed themselves in an intensive community theater residency: 8 days shared with the host community, in which body, voice, memory, and listening generated a final choral and participatory event.

But “Radicate” was also a training opportunity for theater operators, cultural animators, and young artists, who were able to experiment with collective creation practices, exploring new languages rooted in the territory. The intertwining with the “Ombra” call was fundamental, allowing for fruitful exchanges between artists and different approaches, as well as offering an important opportunity for training and sharing of good practices thanks to the work with Viviana Bovino and Gregorio Amicuzi.

This first experience dedicated to performing arts gave rise to the “Ombra” residency, centered on the theme of environmental desertification, with a focus on the visual arts.
The open call selected projects by Giulia Barone, Fabrizio Bellomo, and Graziana Di Santo, who worked together on the wounded landscape, questioning what remains, what resists, and what can be reborn.

In this case too, the process was documented and made public, generating visible traces in the press review and collective stories on social media.

2. Feeling the landscape: workshops and sensory visits

We wanted to explore the concept of “feeling” in greater depth through workshops on white and sensory visits, involving artists capable of opening up new perceptions of the landscape, matter, and relationships.
These activities were enriched by the involvement of other artists already part of the Campo dei Giganti ecosystem.

With Edoardo Marraffa, sound arts created invisible connections between places, breaths, and memories.
With Daniele Papuli, Cartomastodonte was born: an ephemeral but powerful organism made of paper, which was transformed into an installation, workshop, and shared living experience.

3. Creative dissemination of research

It was not just a matter of recounting what happened, but of doing so in an engaging, accessible, and generative way.
We launched a web platform, curated training materials and publications, and built a participatory communication strategy on social media to amplify the project and include those who were unable to attend.

Fundamental to this entire process was the support of a broad and passionate network: the Lecce Library and Museum Center, the Castromediano Museum, and the many local associations and organizations that believed in the project and accompanied it every step of the way.

“Sulle Spalle dei Giganti” (On the Shoulders of Giants) is not just an evocative title, but an invitation to look further, starting from what has come before us, from the territories we inhabit, from the roots and visions we cultivate together.
It is a project that continues to move forward, bringing with it art as a tool for healing, connection, and transformation, in the direction of cultural and environmental regeneration built with and for communities.