Land as Self and A Moving Border

Laura Castro is an alumna of the ’20-21′ curatorial program in Amsterdam at De Appel. Her most recent project, a publication in progress called Dark Black, revisits the history of the partition of the island of Quisqueya, present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Conceived from the premise of land as self, the project studies the possibility of narrative systems that transcend merely human discourse, hence affirming the multiple latent ancestries and phenomenal legacies erased by the dominating historical fables.

As part of fold II. on Commons, SEA Foundation enlarged its library of new titles reflecting on commons, ecology and history of the land ownership. Among the recommended books is A Moving Border. Alpine Cartographies of Climate Change, a project self-initiated by Andrea Bagnato and Marco Ferrari and Elisa Pasqual from the Studio Folder in Italy. The project is a result of long-term research on Italian Limes and reflects on material and imagined borders and how climate change challenges the idea of territory. We will read and discuss the excerpt from the book with artist and curator Laura Castro and think along with the lands and lines that were once drawn to separate them.

Laura Castro

Laura Castro (the Dominican Republic, 1982) is an artist and independent curator based between the Dominican Republic and the Netherlands. Through her artistic and curatorial practice, Castro investigates notions of identity, engaging with nature and history. She is co-founder and co-director of the artist-run hybrid platform Sindicato, which combines the curatorial and commercial possibilities of an art space by proposing alternative forms of cultural production and exhibition-making. With no permanent physical space, Sindicato provides opportunities for artistic experimentation and generates links with new audiences while mobilizing collaboration between institutions, groups and individuals in the Caribbean context.

Castro has been artistic director of several cross-disciplinary projects such as Tropical Ghosts, an investigation into the evolution of Santo Domingo’s central area and its impact on the current social life of the city, which was created in 2014 for World Wide Storefront, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York. Its program includes site-specific urban interventions, theoretical events and gatherings, an online archive and commissioned writing.

Instagram Laura Castro

Studio Folder and Andrea Bagnato

Studio Folder is a design and research agency founded by Marco Ferrari and Elisa Pasqual, and based in Milan, Italy. The studio’s work spans between the cultural and commercial domains and the investigation of autonomous research paths, while working through a diverse range of outcomes-from data visualisation to the design of exhibitions, editorial products and digital platforms.

Andrea Bagnato is an architect and book editor, and a lecturer at Willem de Kooning Academy.

Website Studio Folder
Website Andrea Bagnato

The programme of reading sessions:

27.10.2022 reading with Anna Zvyagintseva
05.10.2022 reading with Jun Zhang
25.08.2022 reading with Christopher van Ginhoven Rey
in fold V. on Awakening

18.11.2021 reading with Sophia Holst
16.09.2021 reading with Amy Franceschini
in fold II. on Commons

08.07.2021 reading with Sheng-Wen Lo
17.06.2021 reading with Katarina Jazbec
20.05.2021 reading with Mari Kesi-Korsu
in fold I. on Empathy

More suggestions for reading? Check out the Commons recommended booklist

Land as Self and A Moving Border

Laura Castro is an alumna of the ’20-21′ curatorial program in Amsterdam at De Appel. Her most recent project, a publication in progress called Dark Black, revisits the history of the partition of the island of Quisqueya, present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Conceived from the premise of land as self, the project studies the possibility of narrative systems that transcend merely human discourse, hence affirming the multiple latent ancestries and phenomenal legacies erased by the dominating historical fables.

As part of fold II. on Commons, SEA Foundation enlarged its library of new titles reflecting on commons, ecology and history of the land ownership. Among the recommended books is A Moving Border. Alpine Cartographies of Climate Change, a project self-initiated by Andrea Bagnato and Marco Ferrari and Elisa Pasqual from the Studio Folder in Italy. The project is a result of long-term research on Italian Limes and reflects on material and imagined borders and how climate change challenges the idea of territory. We will read and discuss the excerpt from the book with artist and curator Laura Castro and think along with the lands and lines that were once drawn to separate them.

Laura Castro

Laura Castro (the Dominican Republic, 1982) is an artist and independent curator based between the Dominican Republic and the Netherlands. Through her artistic and curatorial practice, Castro investigates notions of identity, engaging with nature and history. She is co-founder and co-director of the artist-run hybrid platform Sindicato, which combines the curatorial and commercial possibilities of an art space by proposing alternative forms of cultural production and exhibition-making. With no permanent physical space, Sindicato provides opportunities for artistic experimentation and generates links with new audiences while mobilizing collaboration between institutions, groups and individuals in the Caribbean context.

Castro has been artistic director of several cross-disciplinary projects such as Tropical Ghosts, an investigation into the evolution of Santo Domingo’s central area and its impact on the current social life of the city, which was created in 2014 for World Wide Storefront, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York. Its program includes site-specific urban interventions, theoretical events and gatherings, an online archive and commissioned writing.

Instagram Laura Castro

Studio Folder and Andrea Bagnato

Studio Folder is a design and research agency founded by Marco Ferrari and Elisa Pasqual, and based in Milan, Italy. The studio’s work spans between the cultural and commercial domains and the investigation of autonomous research paths, while working through a diverse range of outcomes-from data visualisation to the design of exhibitions, editorial products and digital platforms.

Andrea Bagnato is an architect and book editor, and a lecturer at Willem de Kooning Academy.

Website Studio Folder
Website Andrea Bagnato

See our previous or upcoming reading sessions:

18.11.2021 reading with Sophia Holst
16.09.2021 reading with Amy Franceschini
in fold II. on Commons

08.07.2021 reading with Sheng-Wen Lo
17.06.2021 reading with Katarina Jazbec
20.05.2021 reading with Mari Kesi-Korsu
in fold I. on Empathy

More suggestions for reading? Check out the Commons recommended booklist