The project, developed in collaboration with Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, celebrates the tenth anniversary of the UNESCO inscription of the Vineyard Landscapes of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato.
Opening: Saturday, 11 July 2026, from 6:00 p.m.
The Municipality of Canelli, Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Association for the Vineyard Landscapes of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato present Pluriversal Recapturings (Riconquiste pluriversali), 2026, a new public artwork by artist Maria Thereza Alves created for the city of Canelli to mark the tenth anniversary of the inscription of the Vineyard Landscapes of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The project has been made possible through the support of the National Tourism Fund (Fondo Unico Nazionale per il Turismo – FUNT), established by the Italian Ministry of Tourism, and the Piedmont Region, with curatorial coordination by Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art. Thanks to this initiative, the Municipality of Canelli has been included among the “Sister Capitals” of Alba Contemporary Art Capital 2027.
Conceived specifically for the site of La Moncalvina in Canelli, the artwork emerges from the encounter between Maria Thereza Alves' artistic research and one of Europe's most significant cultural landscapes, recognised by UNESCO as an outstanding example of the interaction between human activity and the natural environment.
One of the leading international figures in contemporary artistic research on political ecology, memory, and the relationships between humans and the environment, Brazilian artist Maria Thereza Alves has developed, since the 1980s, a multidisciplinary practice that brings together art, activism, field research, and engagement with local communities. Through her work, Alves proposes new ways of understanding the relationships among living species, territories, and ecological systems, exploring how environmental and social transformations shape the balance between human presence and the natural world.
Her research is grounded in careful observation of the geographical, ecological, and cultural contexts in which she works, with the aim of creating artworks that foster new awareness of the relationships between landscape, memory, and coexistence. Over the years, Alves has developed important international projects focusing on the movement of plant species, the long-term effects of colonisation on landscapes, and the need to recognise more balanced forms of coexistence between human and non-human communities.
For the project developed in Canelli, Maria Thereza Alves carried out research in collaboration with professionals, university scholars, and local communities across the Vineyard Landscape of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato, exploring the long-term relationships between the territory, its flora and fauna, and agricultural practices.
This research has resulted in Pluriversal Recapturings (Riconquiste pluriversali), a site-specific intervention consisting of a masonry structure built partly of brick and partly of pietra da cantoni, punctuated by inserts of different types of stone and designed to provide suitable habitats and microclimatic conditions for a wide range of local animal and plant species.
The artwork invites visitors to reflect on the coexistence of the many forms of life that inhabit the landscape and to understand the territory as a dynamic system of relationships shaped by historical, cultural, and ecological layers. In this sense, the project proposes a vision of UNESCO World Heritage not as a static image to be preserved, but as a living organism and a shared space in continuous transformation.
The intervention also forms part of a broader ecological landscape design developed in collaboration with ecoLogicStudio. The project includes the planting of native plant species arranged in a concentric circular pattern designed to foster biodiversity and encourage interspecies relationships. Conceived as an open and evolving system rather than a finished composition, the garden will gradually develop over time in response to the site's microclimatic conditions, allowing increasing autonomy to vegetation and to the natural processes of ecological transformation.
The project represents an important opportunity for dialogue between contemporary art, landscape, and cultural heritage. It forms part of the initiatives celebrating the tenth anniversary of the UNESCO inscription and offers a reflection on the landscape as a collective construction and a living organism, shaped by historical layers, ecological relationships, and cultural practices in constant evolution.
Through this collaboration, the Piedmont Region, the Municipality of Canelli, the Association for the Vineyard Landscape of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato, and Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art reaffirm their shared commitment to promoting innovative approaches to enhancing the territory through contemporary culture, bringing local identity into dialogue with international artistic research. Within this framework, the artwork also becomes part of Orma – Artists' Traces in Langhe Monferrato Roero, the network established by the Langhe Monferrato Roero Tourism Board to connect artistic projects and places, creating a shared narrative of contemporary culture across the territory.
The artwork thus becomes a permanent feature of Canelli's public space, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the UNESCO inscription while inviting visitors to see the landscape not simply as a heritage to be preserved, but as a living, open, and continually evolving ecosystem.
