Elena Mazzi's Participatory Project on Mapuche Rights at ar/ge kunst Bolzano

Elena Mazzi's exhibition at ar/ge kunst in Bolzano addresses violated rights and the Mapuche people's struggle against multinational corporations. Supported by Italian Council, the show will travel to Södertälje Konsthall, the Italian Cultural Institute in Buenos Aires, and BIENALSUR, before entering the Castello di Rivoli collection. Mazzi, born in Reggio Emilia in 1984, is known for participatory practice and co-authorship, as seen in her video 'A fragmented world' made with Sara Tirelli on Mount Etna. Since 2012, she has dialogued with Mapuche groups in Patagonia, who have faced land dispossession since the late 19th century. The Benetton group owns 900,000 hectares there, where nearly 100,000 sheep provide wool for the brand. The exhibition creates an 'anti-museum' opposing the Museo Leleque, built on Benetton property, which treats indigenous culture as extinct. In January 2020, Mazzi joined an international caravan of reporters and associations, working with Mapuche spiritual leader Mauro Millàn on workshops reviving silver jewelry traditions. The first room features an installation with drawings and images on paper and fabric, recounting four stories of Mapuche resistance. Drawings show pumas killed by a landowner as trophies, a map of Museo Leleque, and Patagonia before Chile-Argentina division. Curated by Alessandro Mason, a barrier panel guides viewers to the jewelry section, emphasizing the importance of silverwork for Mapuche cosmology.