Pianpicollo Selvatico is an airy farm from the early nineteenth century. Its name means “Little Wild Plan” (Piccolo Piano Selvatico) because it is located within a small high plain surrounded by oaks, beeches and chestnuts woods. We are in Alta Langa, in the south of Piedmont, near the village of Levice. When the wind blows, Liguria and the sea can be already heard. This part of the Langhe is still little known and even more varied, authentic and a bit wild.
The farm has been restored by expert hands using only local stones and local wood. Advanced technologies and the use of renewable energy ensure environmental sustainability. The group of houses has been divided into comfortable rooms with bathroom, a shared kitchen and a laboratory. The land around the farm is cultivated according to the principles of natural farming, looking for a new pact between man and nature. Guests can walk for a long time among ancient trees (many of them cherry trees), vegetable gardens and lawns.
Alice Benessia, an international artist (she is at home in New York), is the living breath of this place, to which she is linked by childhood memories. After purchasing and restoring Pianpicollo she gave it a new meaning by creating the Center for Research in the Arts and the Sciences. Here Alice invites for long residences very different artists, all sharing the desire to find a different relationship with time, in accordance with natural cycles, and to establish a deep connection between their artistic research and the Langhe scenery.
Between summer and autumn 2019 a small group of guests will have the chance to join the resident artists’ daily research, share their vision of the world, cultivate their own creativity under the guide of a master, with simplicity and naturalness. Anyone can participate, all that is needed is curiosity and readiness to get involved.
The other part of the stay is a restful one: pleasant walks in the surrounding area through woods and pastures, local cuisine with vegetables from the garden (or perhaps a pizza prepared with the historic Langa stone oven), and the acquaintance with people who keep these places.
We propose four workshops with different artists but similar in formula. The first workshop takes place from 25th to 28th July with the artists Andrea Caretto and Raffaella Spagna, the second workshop with the artist Attila Faravelli is held from 3rd to 6th October and the other two workshops are scheduled between November and December. You can attend them all or only one.
The first workshop (25th-28th July) will be curated by Andrea Caretto and Raffaella Spagna, two artists from Turin whose works have been exhibited at Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella, at MART in Rovereto and at GAM in Turin. At Pianpicollo they will involve the members of the workshop in a reflection on the idea of nourishment: the natural elements gathered together in the lawns around, awakening ancestral and wild instincts, will be transformed, cooked and eaten in a big joint lunch. The use of simple medicinal herbs, gathered in the fields of Pianpicollo as well, will instead be an opportunity to think about our skin as a permeable border between us and the world, continuously crossed by substances that transform us.
For more info please visit the following link https://www.artinresidence.it/travel/
The project received the support of Compagnia di San Paolo in the frame of Open Lab 2018.
