Eco e Narciso is a public art programme conceived and curated by Rebecca De Marchi and sponsored by the Province of Turin, with the aim to support the intervention of artistic sensitivity in the process of analysis, development and transformation of the territory.
Started in 2003 as a part of the “Material Culture project”, Eco e Narciso puts the landscape – through its eco-museums and museums – face to face with the arts, intended as a means of query, offering moments of reflection on local identity and occasions for meeting with contemporary culture, through annual editions dedicated to different artistic expressions (Art, Photography, Literature, Music, Design).
Eco e Narciso launched in 2004 a project called LAP (Permanent Artistic Laboratory) with local administrators and the community to compare art, local development and transformation of the territory.
In 2011 Eco e Narciso has undertaken a path of evolution called Sette Piccoli Cieli (Seven Little Skies), combining contemporary creativity, theory, practice, and education. It is addressed to ‘communities of practice’. Working from an analysis focused on identifying and investigating key topical themes in the construction of inclusive, sustainable public space, it has come to highlight situations that bear the same relation to those themes that artistic activity does to civil engagement. Citizenship, labour, legality, new production and sharing technology, intercultural dialogue, public space and environment are themes that can be taken as the starting point for examining and interpreting social and economic changes and fostering productivity and cultural action through art, by encouraging contact, dialogue and exchange among communities, artists and experts in various fields.
From 2014 to 2015 Eco e Narciso collaborated at Stupinigi Fertile project with the aim to enhance the rural identity of the historic area of Stupinigi.
Eco e Narciso has been part of RESÒ the international art residency programme promoted by Foundation for Modern and Contemporary Art CRT, Turin.
The Eco e Narciso programme has matured thanks to the engagement of practitioners, artists, co-curators, local community, partners and networks. Among them: Francesco Barocco, Andrea Botto, Elisabetta Benassi, Daniela Cascella, Castello di Rivoli, Cristiano de Majo, Gianluca e Massimiliano De Serio, John Duncan, Fondazione Pistoletto, Martino Gamper, Luigi Gariglio, Goldsmiths – University of London, Jacob Kirkegaard, Nick Laessing, Armin Linke, Marzia Migliora, Stefano Mirti, Sandrine Nicoletta, Antonio Pascale, Cesare Pietroiusti, Paolo Piscitelli, Scuola Holden, Sergio Risaliti, Steve Roden, Royal College of Art, Studio Marc, Anna Scalfi Eghenter, Tiziano Scarpa, Elisa Sighicelli, Beto Shwafaty, Enzo Umbaca, Luca Vitone.