School of Verticality is a public program about listening and learning from embodied, situated forms of knowing. Where on earth do we belong? Which forgotten nurturing practices can we bring to light and reinvent, together? The program unfolded in three episodes in dialogue with three locations during 2018-2019. Each episode interweaves different biographies (human, animal, territorial) and temporalities (of geology, history, biology, dreams, memory).
The second episode of School of Verticality, Seeding Stories, took place on February 23rd, 2019 at Sockerhof farm in Mals-Malles, Obervinschgau, during the first edition of the Seed swap market SamenFest. On this day, the idea to collect & exchange not only seeds but especially seed stories was activated amongst underground, activist communities of seed savers from Italy, Switserland, Austria and Germany.
Programme Feb 23 2019
Seeding Stories Form
Seeding Stories Video Tutorial
Seeding Stories Flyer
11 am – 12 pm: Screening “Wisdom of the Mountains” (Van Osch Films / Frederik van Oudenhoven, 2017, 40’’, Italian subtitles)
1 – 2 pm: Soup lunch & market
2 – 3 pm: Round table on seed saving and seed swapping as good practices of diversity and self-organized resistance. With: Frederik van Oudenhoven, ethnobotanist; Armin Bernhard, pedagogue, co-founder of the Bürgergenossenschaft Obervinschgau; Susanne Waiz, architect and Semirurali garden coordinator for Donne Nissà (see: Common Roots).
Radio broadcast
Sophie Krier and Roberto Gigliotti as guests at Paolo Mazzucatos’ radio show “Il Sabato di Rai Alto Adige”.
Status | In Spring 2019 a physical seed story table was made (wood work: Christian Mittendorfer), and tested at the Festa delli Orti (hosted by Vivi Maso della Pieve). It was then donated to the common garden Semirurali, where it has joined the Garden Loom to enable a space of collective reflection. The growing, living archive of seed stories is still in progress; I am looking into two options: a) an online series of illustrated podcasts which could function as a satellite to existing online seed databases b) an open app that would allow anyone to tell, collect and share her seed stories, and to find out more about the seed itself by linking to expert sites. Contact Atelier Sophie Krier if you wish to contribute to building this platform, if you wish to team up with Seeding Stories with your organisation, or book a seeding story workshop.
Initially developed in the context of a research residency with cultural association Lungomare, Bolzano.
Hosted by SamenFest, Bürgergenossenschaft Obervinschgau, and Anna Folie, seed swap host, Sockerhof farmer and seed saver.
All photos of Samenfest by Jörg Oschmann, courtesy Lungomare. Graphic design by Inedition.
