The Circular Economy is defined by the European Union as “a production and consumption model that involves sharing, lending, reusing, repairing, reconditioning and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible”. Fifty years after its theorisation, Circularity is now one of the most promising and ambitious strategies for creating an environmentally, productively and industrially sustainable future.
The Circle is a photographic project narrating the revolution of possible solutions. Following a very long research project, Luca Locatelli has documented the good practices, experiments, ambitions and paths of this new utopia. His ten-year commitment to the subject is condensed in the stories commissioned by Gallerie d’Italia of Intesa Sanpaolo, presented for the first time in a unitary context in this exhibition, whose layout was realized by MYGG Architecture.
Visitors are taken on a European journey of experimentation and sustainable industrial advancement, touching on themes such as geothermal energy, the recycling of textiles, the repurposing of abandoned industrial areas, and food. The stories portray real experiences of Nature Based Solutions, actions undertaken to protect, sustain and restore natural ecosystems, which, when applied to industrial and production models, have the potential to trigger the Cultural Transformation needed to change the course of things. Accompanied by a substantial set of infographics and explanatory texts, the images tell of experiences and realities in which the finest engineering, craftsmanship and ancestral wisdom go hand in hand to create a space where Nature can be a central issue again, and where man’s knowledge and wisdom can be at the service of environmental forces in order to benefit from their power, without attempting to tame and imprison them: those Nature-Based Solutions which, more than any other, offer us the greatest chance of success. They show us how the most futuristic technology and the intuition of self-production can both contribute to the same goal – the closing of the circle, the possibility of a perpetual system.
The possibility of success.
The exhibition, curated by Elisa Medde, with the specialist support of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation – the biggest foundation in the world to promote the Circular Economy – and the collaboration of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and Fondazione Cariplo, will open to the public at Gallerie d’Italia – Turin from 21st September 2023 to 8th February 2024.
CREDITS
Cover: Reborn Jeans – Germania, 2022 © Luca Locatelli
Photo 1-5: © Luca Locatelli
