by Lucio Luca
Lucio Luca
(Translation)
The"Amina" Project was conceived by Valeria Orani to promote her land by selecting professionals and protagonists of American art travel & design and engage them in an journey to experience the secrets of the land.
A project conceived in 2019 by Valeria Orani, curator with a long experience in the performing arts, to offer the traveler a new formula of tourist experience through the visions and suggestions of contemporary arts and the Sardinian tradition. Amina - Sardinian word that means "Soul" - is the title chosen for a path that involves artists and the territory and aims to build value through the different creative expressions, highlighting the heritage of an artist when he molds outside his land of origin.
To promote the area, Amina is looking for travel companions, professionals residing in North America, from the world of arts and culture, to share with them the experience of discovering exclusive places full of energy, immersed in nature and with one of the healthiest, richest and most historic food and wine traditions in the world. The trip includes 5 days in Barbagia during the ancestral rites of "Carrasegare", where the Mammuthones, Merdules, Turpos are the protagonists: men covered in goat furs, bells and with their faces painted or covered by mysterious black wooden masks whose origin unknown is prior to the Dionysian rites.
"We asked ourselves how to effectively convey the charm of a millenary culture, how to tell about Sardinia outside Sardinia - explains project curator Valeria Orani - Art gives us a chance. To build this story we involved four Sardinian artists. Alessandro Carboni, Cristian Chironi and Maurizio Saiu who intertwine performing and visual arts, architecture and music in their research. All three of them are internationally respected for their talent. Antonio Marras is a fashion designer and mercurial artist whose fame is recognized globally. Costantino Nivola and Maria Lai were also of inspiration in our research ”.
“Sardinia - continues Orani - is a land rich in ancestral rituals that are expressed in many forms: in the nature of the territory, in the handicraft production, in the popular traditions, in a lifestyle that in some cases has remained almost intact for millennia. This energy manages to be a source of inspiration for contemporary language, the arts and design are expressions of this dialogue, the curatorial vision responds to the desire of the traveler in search of experiences. The project was born as a traveling metaphor of a round trip that intends to enhance contemporary Sardinia, witnessing its universality through an action of cultural updating that breaks down seasonal boundaries ".
But why did you choose the name Amina for this project? “Amina is the Sardinian translation of the word Soul. Coincidentally, her translation also appears when reading the word backwards. This randomness seemed perfect for a project that was born as a metaphor of return ”. Anyone interested in traveling with AMINA> ANIMA (Soul) can request further information from info@aminaproject.org or by consulting the website www.aminaproject.org