Tomás Saraceno

Tomás Saraceno, one of the main protagonists of the contemporary international artistic scene, lives and works in Berlin. Civita Sicilia invited him to Siracusa for the first time for a site specific intervention in the Neapolis Park, one of the most important archeological complexes of the Mediterranean where the grandiosity of the ancient artifacts is combined with the naturalistic beauty of the area, and whose fame is principally linked to the majestic Greek Theatre situated there.

This visit led to the birth of AnarcoAracnoAnacro, a multimedia project divided into different chapters, placed at a distance one from another in various points in the Park which can now be visited in (nearly) its entirety. Saraceno is one of the most influential activists for saving our planet and has built a narrative trail through the park which multiplies the stories told by the archeological site, questioning the centrality of human history and in particular that of the West, through a dialogue between archeology, ecology, aracnomancy, art and social activism.

The main points along the multimedia trail are underscored by the performances of students of the Accademia d’Arte del Dramma Antico, INDA’s school for young actors, who, guided by Simonetta Cartia and Elena Polic Greco, create fantastical improvisations and resonant stories of metamorphosis.

In the Latomia dell’Intagliatella, the old Greek quarry open to the public for the first time, nestled in the ruins of an ancient human past, Saraceno has placed a sculpture entitled Stati dell’acqua - states of water in which birds, spiders, bees, plants and humans can interact, as if they were in a habitable cloud, a multispecies habitat which gives shelter, shade and water to visitors.

Lastly, the thing that no-one expected... Thanks to the scientific consultancy of an aracnologist, specifically included in his staff, Saraceno revealed to us that the Neapolis Park hosts over 60 species of spider, which have become the focus of his artistic-environmental narration.

His interview was recorded exclusively for us - coincidentally but not too coincidentally - in front of a spidersweb, one of the many that visitors now go looking for.