1.Amid the sand dunes: how to see a forgotten ecosystem

Lagoon Micro-ecologies, is the title of the second series of itinerant conversations “Venice as a Model for the Future?” curated by Barbara Casavecchia and Pietro Consolandi for TBA21−Academy and Ocean Space.

This new chapter moves beyond the urban boundaries of the city of Venice towards the islands of its lagoon. The participants direct their steps and gazes to the land and the seascapes created by the interaction between various species, not only human, that inhabit them: from coastal sand to garden soil, from salt marshes, a thriving home to wild plants and birds, to seabeds populated by tiny fish and molluscs.

In inviting us to rethink landscapes as “assemblages” of coexisting life forms, requiring “habits of noticing”, scholar and anthropologist Anna Tsing reminds us that they are “open-ended gatherings. They allow us to ask about communal effects without assuming them. They show us the potential histories in the making.”*

The first traveling conversation of the new “Lagoon Micro-ecologies” cycle takes us to the protected oasis of San Nicolò, at the northern end of the Lido of Venice, to observe an area of dunes and understand how its ecosystem meets the needs of its inhabitants, from herbs, to birds, and to humans passing through on their way to the beach.

Underpinning the walk is the story of two bird species that nest in this area and are at risk of extinction, the Kentish plover (Charadrius Alexandrinus) and the little tern (Sternula Albifrons), and how they formed an unprecedented alliance against a species of crow in a landscape that has been transformed by the building sites during the construction of the MOSE flood barrier. Accompanying us on this journey is marine biologist Lara Endrizzi.

5.30pm: Meeting at Ocean Space. Departure for “Lagoon Micro-ecologies. Venice as a model for the future?”

6.15pm: Meeting on the Lido of Venice, in front of the church of Santa Maria Elisabetta.

Participation is free, please make a reservation at info@ocean-space.org. Limited places available.We remind you that transport via vaporetto is at the expense of participants.

The Lido Santa Maria Elisabetta vaporetto stop can be reached by lines 1 / 5.1 / 5.2 / 6 /10 / 14

Lara Endrizzi graduated in Marine Biology at the University of Padua, and since 2020 she has been working at the Giuseppe Olivi Adriatic Zoology Museum in Chioggia. Over the years she has been involved with various Citizen Science projects, dealing with the relationship between mankind and the sea across a range of themes: the ancestral fear of sharks, the relationship between artisanal fishermen and protected marine areas, the fight against the effects of climate change thanks to wetland lagoon areas, and environmental education aimed towards both adults and children.

“Lagoon Micro-ecologies” is part of TBA21–Academy’s program, The Current III: The Mediterraneans: “Thus waves come in pairs” (After Etel Adnan), led by Barbara Casavecchia.

The Current III is a transdisciplinary program of perception, listening, thought and learning that supports projects, collective education, and voices on the shores of the Mediterranean through art, culture, science, and activism.

*Anna Tsing, When The Things We Study Respond to Each Other, in: More-than-Human, ed. by Andrés Jaque, Marina Otero Verzier, Lucia Pietroiusti, and Lisa Mazza, co-published by Het Nieuwe Instituut, Office for Political Innovation, General Ecology Project at the Serpentine Galleries and Manifesta Foundation, 2020.