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The fourth event in the Earth Emergency cycle of public lectures – this year dedicated to reflection on climate and conflict and promoted by the Department of environment constructions and design ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ in partnership with Bobbium – leaves the ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ Campus in Mendrisio and arrives in Lugano, at the Asilo Ciani.

The theme of the event, The water to come, is expressed through an engaging narration, in the form of a dialogue between art and science, on the theme of water, which has always been one of the main drivers of climate dynamics. A narration conceived to better contextualise the complex issues related to climate, taking into account, therefore, also the perspective of long time, the only one able to show in the right light the current situation and the general picture, in other words ‘the sense’ of what is happening. The event is the result of a collaboration with the Associazione L’Uomo e il Clima and the Associazione Trame, as part of the multi-location project of exhibitions and events L’Uomo e il Clima (November 2024 – May 2025).

At 5 p.m. is the reading Acqua. Unsweetened narration (Acqua. Narrazione non dolcificata) by and with Ferruccio Cainero. The author has made civil commitment one of the most appreciated features of his theatre. ‘The water of the Indus no longer reaches the sea. The river is dried up,' Cainero says, ’but if you want to see where three quarters of the Indus water ends up, open your wardrobe. To produce one cotton shirt you need the water of 25 bathtubs. Pakistan sells cotton to the whole world. For the Indus, it makes no difference whether you walk around in a t-shirt that says I don’t care or one that says: let’s save the Indus. Had you never thought of that? Neither did I and there are many other things we had never thought of'. Accompanying the show with his musical intermittences is Pierluigi Ferrari, who, in his own way, with his guitar proposes a nostalgic journey of arias and songs that everyone has heard in post-modernity. The show benefits from the scientific advice of Claudio Valsangiacomo, head of the Centre for Development and Cooperation ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ (Department of environment constructions and design).

At 6 p.m. climatologist Luca Mercalli offers a lecture entitled The climate and water of the future. Water is a fundamental component of the planet’s climate system and geography: its presence or absence through rainfall means the difference between desert and forest, between hunger and prosperity. But if it is too much, floods and landslides disrupt the land and communities, as happened recently in Italian Switzerland and Romagna in May 2023. Global warming is changing the distribution of rainfall and snowfall and increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events. We are moving towards unexplored climatic, and therefore hydrological, scenarios that may threaten the safety of younger generations. Understanding them today can still enable us to prevent them.

For the duration of the event, a video excerpt from the multimedia work Glacier Dreams by Refik Anadol, internationally renowned media artist, filmmaker and pioneer of artificial intelligence aesthetics, can be seen in the side rooms of the Asilo Ciani. It is an innovative work inspired by the beauty and fragility of the world’s glaciers that emerges from a long-term research project at the intersection of multisensory new media art, machine learning and environmental studies.

Furthermore, in the space of the Asilo Ciani, one can see flat-weaved textiles made by nomadic peoples from the arid areas of Iran in the late 19th and early 20th century that show interesting motifs symbolising water, as well as an installation made of ancient terracotta water pipes from Thailand dating from the 14th-15th centuries. These artefacts also suggest the preciousness of the resource water.

The event, which is free and open to all interested persons, will be held on Saturday 30 November 2024 at 5 p.m. at the Asilo Ciani in Lugano (Viale Carlo Cattaneo 5).

Final refreshment.

is appreciated for organisational reasons.

Biographies

Ferruccio Cainero
Writer, storyteller, actor and director, he has dozens of plays for the theatre and productions as a director to his credit, with which he has won numerous awards, including the Swiss Stage Prize in 2002 and The Golden Ear of Graz International Prize for Storytelling in 2006.
Cainero is also the author of many radio plays for RSI-Swiss Radio and Television and for numerous artists. Some of these plays have become hits that have been repeated around Europe for decades.

Luca Mercalli
Climatologist, editor of the magazine Nimbus, he chairs the Italian Meteorological Society, a national association founded in 1865. He researches alpine climates and glaciers, teaches environmental sustainability and practices it himself, living in a solar-powered house, travelling by electric car and cultivating a vegetable garden. He is a consultant to the European Union, European ambassador for the Climate Pact and former scientific advisor to ISPRA-Istituto superiore per la protezione e la ricerca ambientale. For RAI he has collaborated on Che tempo che fa, Scala Mercalli and TGMontagne and Rainews24, and has also participated in many RSI programmes. A scientific journalist and columnist for Il Fatto quotidiano, he has thousands of articles and over 3,000 lectures to his credit. His books include: Prepariamoci (Chiarelettere), Non c’è più tempo (Einaudi), Il clima che cambia (BUR), Salire in montagna (Einaudi), the children’s book Uffa che caldo (ElectaKids) and the comic strip Il tuo clima (TataiLab).