Exhibition: Earthly Communities

The group exhibition Earthly Communities invites visitors to reflect on the farreaching consequences of European colonization of the indigenous territories of Abya Yala* since the 15th century. In multimedia artworks, eleven international artists explore the traces of colonial intervention in the environment and society. They focus on various areas: agriculture, urbanism, archaeology – as well as extractive processes that continue to cause and reinforce profound ecological and social inequalities to this day. Inspired by Achille Mbembe’s vision of an ‘earthly community’, the exhibition calls for a new, reparative attitude that includes humans, animals, plants, minerals, and spiritual beings alike. The works question the Western understanding of ‘nature’ and open spaces for alternative perspectives in which indigenous resistance, sustainable knowledge and a lived connection to the earth become visible. Local references – such as a return to earlier knowledge in South Tyrol – create a dialogue between global experience and regional responsibility. Earthly Communities thus artistically connects social and ecological justice.

* Abya Yala is an indigenous term for the Latin American continent, that from a decolonial perspective, symbolizes living earth and cultural self-determination.

Saturday, 21 June 2025, 5 pm: Artist talk EN
7 pm: Official opening of the exhibition DE, IT, EN, with contributions by the curators Lucrezia Cippitelli and Simone Frangi
Welcome: Katharina Zeller, Mayor of Merano
Antonella Costanzo, Municipal Advisor for Italian Culture
Martina Oberprantacher, Director of Art Merano
8.30 pm: DJ set by AMAZON, Marconi Park, in collaboration with Coworking della Memoria
Sunday, 22/06/2025, 11 pm: Curator's guided tour of the exhibition IT
12.30: Flows over unities - Participative action and food Performance, Luigi Coppola IT/EN
Marconi Park, in collaboration with Coworking della Memoria & BAU - Institute for Contemporary Art and Ecology, Marconi Park.
To mark the opening of the exhibition, Kunst Meran invites you to a varied weekend programme of events at the Kunsthaus and in Marconi Park.