Attendance is free of charge with compulsory booking.

For info and bookings write to: info@fondazioneratti.org

Anne Varichon is an anthropologist specialising in colour with reference to its role within cultural identities, materials, knowledge, processes, uses and thinking. She is the author, among others, of the publication Couleurs, pigments et teintures dans les mains des peuples (2005, Éditions du Seuil, translated into English, Spanish, Japanese and Korean). She participates in numerous research projects and scientific publications, especially by the CNRS - Centre National de Recherche Scientifique. Her latest work Nuanciers. Éloge du subtil (2023, Éditions du Seuil) was published by Princeton University Press in 2024 under the title Colour Charts.

Dominique Cardon is a historian, archaeologist and expert in the history of textile techniques and natural dyes, Director of Research Emerita at the CNRS - Centre National de Recherche Scientifique. She received the Silver Medal of the CNRS in 2011. The author of works on natural dyes such as Natural Dyes - Sources, Tradition, Technology and Science (2007, Archetype Books) and Le Monde des Teintures naturelles (2014, Belin), she is currently working on "colour notebooks" to share the knowledge of dyers of the past with today's designers and colourists and to integrate a new focus on natural dyes with an interest in the reconstruction of a green and ethical supply chain. She received the UNESCO Thinking and Building Peace Medal for scientific leadership of world congresses on natural dyes in India, South Korea, France, Madagascar and China, and the Turner Medal from the Colour Group of the United Kingdom for her work on colour. She was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 2015 and a Knight of the Order of Arts, Letters and Culture in Madagascar in 2017.

Yto Barrada studied history and political science at the Sorbonne and photography in New York. Her work — including photography, film, sculpture, prints and installations, — began by exploring the peculiar situation of her hometown Tangier. Engaging with the performativity of archival practices and public interventions, Barradaʼs installations reinterpret social relationships, uncover subaltern histories, and reveal the prevalence of fiction in institutionalized narratives. In 2006, Barrada founded the artist-run Cinémathèque de Tanger, North Africa’s first cinema cultural center. Her work has been exhibited at Tate Modern (London), MoMA (New York), The Renaissance Society (Chicago), Witte de With (Rotterdam), Haus der Kunst (Munich), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Whitechapel Gallery (London), and the 2007 and 2011 Venice Biennale. She was the Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year for 2011, after which her exhibit RIFFS toured widely. Barrada is also the founding director of Cinémathèque de Tanger. A comprehensive monograph was published by JRP Ringier in 2013. She is a recipient of the 2013-2014 Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography (Peabody Museum at Harvard University) and was awarded the 2015 Abraaj Prize and with fourth edition of the Merz Prize.

Isa Rodrigues is a textile artist and educator based in Brooklyn, New York, and Lagos, Portugal. She’s interested in the innovation potential of traditional techniques and materials, sustainable processes, and education as a means for community-building and preserving material culture. She’s a founding team member of the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, where she was Co-Executive Director and founded the project Sewing Seeds, creating and activating natural dye gardens in public spaces. She continues her research of natural dyes as co-lead for the Pratt Institute’s Natural Dye Garden and as a collaborator and consultant for The Mothership residency in Tangier, Morocco. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Art and Design and the Cooper Hewitt Museum. She holds a Masters in Textile Conservation from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and teaches textile materiality and design at Rhode Island School of Design, Fashion Institute of Technology, and Pratt Institute.

Silvia Zublena, born in Turin, moved to Pisa to attend the Faculty of Herbal Techniques where she graduated with a thesis on dyeing plants. For her Master's degree, she chose the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences where dyeing plants were again her thesis topic, again with Professor Luciana G. Angelini. She then began a personal journey to get closer and closer to the world of natural colour by travelling to France, Belgium and India. On her return to Tuscany, she began working at the Botanical Garden and Museum of the University of Pisa where she set up a collection of dyeing plants. From 2018 to 2021, she dedicated herself to a project to recover Tuscan wool with Il fuso recuperato ETS by whom, on an artisanal level, she retraced the wool processing chain through natural dyeing. Every year, she proposes a walk to recognise wild dyeing plants with the Association 1.618.

Appuntamento in Giardino

Gregg Bordowitz

XXX CSAV - Artists' Research Laboratory | art poetics politics

Gregg Bordowitz

Where Feelings Arise: A Talk

We use cookies