The group exhibition Earthly Communities examines the multi-layered relationships between Europe and Abya Yala - the pre-colonial name for the Central and South American continent - and looks at them through the prism of the South Tyrolean context. Inspired by the book of the same name by the Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe (2022), the exhibition is dedicated to ecological, economic and geopolitical issues. The metaphor of the "into-the-earth trench" serves as a leitmotif to shed light on the resilience of indigenous agricultural knowledge - both in Abya Yala and in South Tyrol. Interventions by invasive farming and archaeology as well as extractivism are critically questioned artistically, while at the same time ways for a sustainable approach to the Alpine soil are explored.

A central component of the exhibition is the residency program Resistenze Viventi, which brings artists to Merano to create new works and performances. The Mexican-Chilean artist Amanda Piña, the Colombian-Venezuelan artist Alexandra Gelis and the Italian artist Luigi Coppola deal with the historic Tyrolean Peasants' Wars of 1525 - a disobedience against domination and a struggle for social justice. In doing so, they broaden the view of non-human life forms and explore their role in ecological networks. Plant and mineral worlds are understood as an expression of living resistance and placed in relation to current global challenges. Their artistic work thus focuses on the connection between humans, Alpine history and agriculture as well as global geopolitics. The results of the residencies will be presented from June to October 2025 at various locations in Merano - in the Kunsthaus, in public squares, in forests and at other unusual venues.

Sallisa Rosa Topography of Memory, 2023 © Audemars Piguet Art Commission

Artists: AMAZON, Minia Biabiany, Marilyn Boror Bor, Carolina Caycedo,Ismael Condoii, Luigi Coppola, Etienne de France, Alexandra Gelis, Mazenett Quiroga, Laura Huertas Millán, Eliana Otta, Amanda Piña, Naomi Rincón-Gallardo, Sallisa Rosa, Samuel Sarmiento
June 22 to October 12, 2025
www.kunstmeranoarte.org

Earthly Communities is part of the trilogy The Invention of Europe (2024-2027), curated by Lucrezia Cippitelli and Simone Frangi. The trilogy focuses on the European self-narrative, questions its monolithic and essentialist perspective and reflects on it from the point of view of other continents - here now in the second chapter of the trilogy from the perspective of Abya Yala. The focus is on South Tyrol, a multilingual border region between Italy and Austria. As a region with a complex history and permeated by political and economic power interests, it becomes the starting point for reflections on global and local interdependencies.
The project is supported by numerous collaborations, including with actors from the agricultural sector and partner institutions of the "Euregio - Museum Year - 2025"
https://2025.euregio.info