Harvesting the Net
A Tale of Digital Gardening
December 2023 - #digitalgardens #videoessay - Anna Fasolato, Alessandro Y. Longo, Jeein Sheein, Giorgio Craparo, Lapo Sorride & Stranding Production -
“Harvesting the Net - A Tale of Digital Gardening” is REINCANTAMENTO’s latest attempt at video production. The project was commissioned by Marialaura Ghidini and Sara Bortoletto on the occasion of Codici Magici, a three-day symposium on techno-magic, hosted by MO.CA (Centro per le Nuove Culture) in Brescia.
Codici Magici is an exploration into the realm of technomagic, and the human expressions in which technology and magic interconnect across the organic, inorganic and spiritual spheres. A journey through the codes that generate new post-capitalist scenarios that are ritual and totemic, and pave the way for novel forms of human affirmation beyond anthropocentrism. Codici Magici is a hybrid symposium that explores all this through talks by artists, curators, anthropologists and semioticians, alongside a video screening and interactive art experiences such as workshops, and participatory and sound performances.
Codici Magici is an exploration into the realm of technomagic, and the human expressions in which technology and magic interconnect across the organic, inorganic and spiritual spheres. A journey through the codes that generate new post-capitalist scenarios that are ritual and totemic, and pave the way for novel forms of human affirmation beyond anthropocentrism. Codici Magici is a hybrid symposium that explores all this through talks by artists, curators, anthropologists and semioticians, alongside a video screening and interactive art experiences such as workshops, and participatory and sound performances.
The internet has changed. What was once a space created for free expression and communication has become a militarized tool for surveillance and algorithmic control. Among the different ways to remember the web as a liberated space, Harvesting the Net explores the notion of digital gardening. From the early internet days, digital gardens were conceptual maps and blueprints towards an online well-being, but like many other memories, it risks becoming another appropriation for enhancing atomic productivity. In this video essay, we summon the millenary, global history of gardening, to recover hidden symbols and forgotten meanings. By cultivating a garden as “a natural territory of hope”, we enchant the dull reality of today’s Web and occupy the horizon with a thousand blooming spaces.
Research and Writing: Alessandro Y. Longo, Jeein Shein, Anna Fasolato
Artistic Direction: Alessandro Y. Longo, Anna Fasolato
Direction Assistant: Alessandro Barbetti
Video Editing: Stranding Production, Anna Fasolato
Title Design: Giorgio Craparo
Sound Design: Kinked
Original Tracks: Kinked and Dori Sorride recorded in Asile185 and Berlin, 2022/2023
Research and Writing: Alessandro Y. Longo, Jeein Shein, Anna Fasolato
Artistic Direction: Alessandro Y. Longo, Anna Fasolato
Direction Assistant: Alessandro Barbetti
Video Editing: Stranding Production, Anna Fasolato
Title Design: Giorgio Craparo
Sound Design: Kinked
Original Tracks: Kinked and Dori Sorride recorded in Asile185 and Berlin, 2022/2023
