The first in a series of publications dedicated to the exploration of the
archives of the Italian region of Basilicata from an
artistic perspective. This volume focuses on areas affected by the
reclamation of the water system.
The first of the five books in the “Archivi della Basilicata”
(Archives of Basilicata) series casts light on the documentary heritage of
what is now the Bradano and Metaponto Reclamation Consortium. The book is
set out as an investigation into the psychological and political issues
connected to the changing landscape, with all the implications on the future
to come and the cancellation of the past. This first volume shows the
direction that the series will take, both in a literary and a purely
academic sense: the texts depart from the photographs, using them as a
precious original source and visual pretext for their investigations and
speculations. The images guide us through the areas affected by the
reclamation and the development of the water system, its groundworks,
artesian wells and artificial channels. New, built shapes stand out with
violent lyricism in frozen and privative settings. We stand before a new
politic-cultural and geological landscape, reclamation will change the
course of things forever.
This publication is part of the “Archivi della Basilicata” book series,
originating from I-DEA, a Matera European Capital of Culture 2019 project
that explores the archives and collections of Basilicata from an
artistic perspective.
