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The two-year program by GAMeC – Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bergamo offers a vision of curatorship as a widespread and participatory event on the territory, involving local communities and international artists during the biennium 2024-25. 

The Orobie Biennal – Thinking like a mountain develops in the years 2024-2025, bringing together local and international artists, from different backgrounds, called to conceive site-specific works, performances and laboratories in relation to the territory. More than just a distributed event, the Biennale reflects a dynamic curatorial vision that bridges the museum and its landscape. The project is curated by Lorenzo Giusti, head of GAMeC in Bergamo, with the support of associate curators Sara Fumagalli and Marta Papini and editorial coordinator Valentina Gervasoni.  
The title takes inspiration from a phrase coined by American ecologist and environmentalist Aldo Leopold in his book – A Sand County Almanac (1949) –, with some reflections related to the observation of the earth around his home. For Leopold, “thinking like a mountain” means recognizing the deep interconnectedness of natural elements – seeing nature as a living system on which our health and very survival depend. For GAMeC, it’s a call for awareness and a prompt to reconnect humanity with nature through collective engagement. The Biennale unfolds across a wide range of ecosystems, from the green spaces of the Province of Bergamo to the pre-Alpine ridges, the woods of the Parco dei Colli, and the plains of the Bassa Bergamasca. 

GAMEC’S CURATORIAL VISION  

Driven by the desire to bring art into dialogue with nature, the exhibition is an important milestone in both curatorial and environmental practice. Participation here isn’t just about ephemeral, collective gestures, it’s about creating long-lasting, locally embedded interventions. Over the course of the project, the team has been thinking about words that could clarify Thinking like a mountain’s intentions. 
Sara Fumagalli wrote: “Many African societies consider Ubuntu as a way of life that can be summed up by the phrase, ‘I am because we are; and since we are, therefore I am’”. This philosophy of placing the individual in relation to the community is at the heart of the Biennale’s commitment to participation, sustainability, rootedness, and creativity. A rich program of events – including open studio, free guided tours, shared experiences on the territory, workshops – further strengthens the curatorial framework of Thinking Like a Mountain. 
Artists known for their sensitivity to environmental and social issues have been invited to lead long-term, community-focused projects. Highlights from 2024 include Sonia Boyce’s site-specific work Benevolence, Mercedes Azpilicueta’s performance Que este mundo permanezca, and Agostino Iacurci’s installation Dry Days, Tropical Nights, each contributing to the Biennale’s layered and expansive narrative. 
The initiative is also accompanied by a specially created magazine featuring critical essays and reportage by researchers, journalists, and writers. The content spans disciplines from art and design to agriculture and anthropology, with a special focus on local craft and manufacturing traditions. 

THE FOURTH CYCLE OF THE OROBIE BIENNIAL 

On 7 June 2025, the fourth cycle of the Orobie Biennial opened with the performance Spin and Break Free by Cecilia Bengolea at the headquarters of the Linificio e Canapificio Nazionale in Villa d’Almè. Running through 14 September 2025, the program features Landscape Painting (Mine), a site-specific work by German artist Julius von Bismarck at the historic mining site in Dossena. This powerful intervention reimagines the geological heritage of the area, inviting the public to engage with the mine through a newly conscious perspective – transforming stone into a canvas that reclaims collective memory. Also part of this cycle is Magnitudo, an installation by Bergamo-born artist Francesco Pedrini in the town of Roncobello. Consisting of three wooden structures positioned at the Passo del Vendulo, the work provides new vantage points for stargazing, drawing on research in archeoastronomy and other disciplines to prompt reflection on our origins and our relationship to time and the natural world. In Bergamo’s city center, visitors can explore Seasons, a city-wide exhibition by Maurizio Cattelan running until 26 October 2025. Featuring five works – some newly created, others previously exhibited –, the project strengthens the connection between the artworks and the urban fabric that surrounds them. 

A HIGH-ALTITUDE PROJECT: EX. – MOUNTAIN FORGETS YOU 

As a part of Thinking like a mountain, thanks to the collaboration between GAMeC and the Bergamo section of the Italian Alpine Club, was developed EX.: a project led by Andrea Cassi and Michele Versaci aimed at reconstructing the historic Aldo Frattini bivouac in Valbondione. Envisioned as an off-site, high-altitude extension of the museum, the bivouac will serve as a base for environmental monitoring, data collection, and ecosystem preservation. Beyond its functional role as a shelter, the bivouac is designed as an immersive aesthetic and sensory space – one that enables visitors to truly perceive and appreciate the natural world, echoing Aldo Leopold’s philosophy. From 7 June to 14 September 2025, GAMeC’s Spazio Zero will host Mountain Forgets You, an exhibition introducing the EX. project through research materials, documents, sketches, and models of the future structure. The show also features Thermocene (2025), a sound and visual installation created by Giorgio Ferrero, Rodolfo Mongitore (Mybosswas), and EX., further expanding the dialogue between art, science, and landscape. 

Maddalena Domenghini 

https://www.gamec.it/en

Translated with AI