The Names of Trees is a week-long project-event, organised by the Cherimus Association, which aims to valorise and make known the undiscovered places of Sardinian territory of Sulcis Iglesiente.

Through this project, the Cherimus Association, itself based in Sulcis Iglesiente, intends to integrate the territory with contemporary art, promoting encounters with artists working on the international scene and valorising territorial resources. “We believe that Sardinia, by opening up its cultural borders to the international scene, may give greater value to its own identity and be seen by the world as a land that still has a lot to give" explains Emiliana Sabiu, president of Cherimus.

The idea is to involve artists from the world of contemporary art who have taken part in other important events (biennials, Documenta, museum exhibitions etc.), and who are thus already in the media eye, to create permanent public artworks linked to the territory: in a word, site-specific works.

The ultimate goal of this major cultural operation is two-fold: on one hand to enhance the island’s cultural heritage, to create an exchange with the outside world, to move away from the isolation and immobility of the Sardinian territory. On the other hand, the aim is also to bring artworks out of the museum spaces, in the belief that by its very nature, art is able to establish contact with anyone, not only with experts and those working in the field.

The guests of this development project – which will open on Sunday 13th and will come to a close on 20th September – will be Franziska & Lois Weinberger (Vienna), protagonists of the Austria Pavilion at the last Venice Biennale, key figures in the debate on the relationship between art and nature; Claudia Zanfi, editor of the first Italian monograph dedicated to the Weinbegers, art critic and cultural promoter, expert on micro-geographies and emerging cultures; the Ugandan artist Zarina Bhimji, a guest at the Venice Biennale in 2007; Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, art critic and curator, since 2008 curator of the MAXXI (Museum of 20th-Century Art in Rome); Lucy+Jorge Orta, creators of ephemeral inventions, as well as performances and workshops exploring the key themes of the contemporary world (new forms of architecture, the water shortage, pollution etc.), and who have been guests at the Venice Biennale as well as the Biennials of Havana and Johannesburg.

The areas involved in this cultural projects are those of Iglesias, Carbonia, Santadi and Villaperuccio.

As for the role of the town of Iglesias, THE NAMES OF TREES is a project included in Est'Arte Iglesiente (Iglesias, 27th July – 27th September 2009), a cultural vehicle aimed at promoting the image of a territory open to contemporary arts, and at drawing the attention of the great national and international art and culture circuits.

www.cherimus.org