Relational Art, Contemporary Art, Participation

A plant is a map. Una pianta è una mappa.
The second edition of ResidenzaLAB begins—a poetic exercise and artistic research on dialogue, inspired by the ecosocial question: How can we learn from the plant society?

San Costanzo, 3.9.2026

Can we learn from the plant society? And how? A group of artists meeting within the ResidenzaLAB project is asking this question. From September 16 to 30, 2026, the second edition of this three-year laboratory will take place in San Costanzo. In mid-September, Anna Dian, Viktoria Morgenstern, Margherita Animelli, and Nik Fischer will return to San Costanzo in the Marche region again this year, accompanied by agronomist Angela Sanchioni. The working group pursues a long-term goal: to shape, by September 2027, a dialogic work of art capable of extending its influence well beyond the town’s boundaries while, at the same time, remaining rooted in San Costanzo. Sibylle Ciarloni: “We look forward to meeting and picking up the threads of the journey we began!”

A plant is a map. This direct translation from Italian to English has become one of the poetic traces remaining from the first laboratory held in September 2025. Much of what began then has continued to grow. Encounters have become relationships, conversations have transformed into ideas, and shared experiences have generated trust. It is this slow growth that the curator intends to cultivate this year as well. The guests of the ResidenzaLAB working group, engaged in various artistic fields, collaborate with people from the territory to promote good practices of dialogue among different realities, lives, and languages. The research questions continue to be: How can we learn from the plant society? How can we understand their cooperative way of living? And what can we bring into our human coexistence from what they teach us?

Plants need one another to live. Through the working group composed of artists from Italy and neighbouring countries, people with different lifeways are connected. All participants are active members of the project: artists, citizens, associations, curators, and experts who collaborate to explore the ecosocial question and understand how human beings can comprehend and transform plants’ capacities to participate in the future. Sibylle Ciarloni: “We are also seeking contact with young people to listen to them and develop a project together with them.”

The curator sees this project as a large, heterogeneous group, where the transmission of knowledge and interest in the various interpretations of the starting question will unfold over the three years of this experience. Sibylle Ciarloni: “We listen. We observe. We ask questions. We work together. We want to understand how plant communities function and what they can teach us about attention, cooperation, and mutual care.”

Documentation, which will grow each year as a source of good practices, will be distributed from 2028 to anyone who wishes to initiate an open process, with the aim of shared and sustainable change.

ResidenzaLAB 2025–2027 – poetic exercise and artistic research on dialogue, inspired by the ecosocial question: How can we learn from the plant society?
A project by Annex Cultura ETS.
Curated by Sibylle Ciarloni, in collaboration with Margherita Animelli.
Documentation: www.residenza-lab.net
Contact: desk@annexc.net
Annex Cultura ETS, Via degli Olmi 28, I-61039 San Costanzo (PU)

Sibylle Ciarloni is an independent curator and president of Annex Cultura ETS. She expresses her research through artistic practices, writing, and the creation of relational art projects that involve communities and public spaces. She currently focuses on the ecosocial themes of climate warming and the human species’ capacity to act.

Margherita Animelli lives between Paris and Bergamo and fully embodies the multifaceted nature of today’s cultural landscape. She is an independent curator, communications consultant, project manager in the cultural sector, archivist, and artist. In all these roles, she closely follows the development and narration of projects, transforming complex ideas into accessible and meaningful experiences.