In the summer of 2019 Alejandro Haiek embarked on the WOJR/Civitella Architecture Fellowship at the Castle with the aim to make an installation. During his fellowship at Civitella, Alejandro researched the environs around the castle and considered how nature and industry worked carefully in tandem to form the traditional Umbrian landscape. The result was a participatory reinterpretation of the agricultural and industrial systems which had framed and changed the Umbrian countryside, especially during the last century.

The challenge of the work was to create a community engagement process in just over a month; to weave the intrinsic local understanding of geology and topography into industrial production, in order to create a land-art work of sculptural refinement. The consequences of the process are as diverse as collaborations between local producers and chefs pushing boundaries of self-sufficiency, as well as artistic connections between well-known composers, film-makers and writers, resident at Civitella at the time, to harness the capabilities of improvisation and collective making.

WOJR/Civitella Ranieri Architecture Prize sponsored by Cambridge, Massachusetts based design firm, WOJR, invites an emerging architect each year to Civitella Ranieri, Umbira, which is the birthplace of Arte Povera, the avant-garde art movement known for its use of modest resources and everyday materials. Conforming to the region’s history and traditions, the prizewinner should not use digital modeling and fabrication software and must rely solely on local resources. The prize was established by Liam O’Brien to design and construct a site-specific temporary installation on the castle grounds using simple means and locally-available materials.

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