Apr. 13, 2020:Participatory Geology project in time of Covid-19 | Italy

In the media, International

An article on Participatory Lithology for the Culture360 site of the Asia-Europe Foundation:

https://culture360.asef.org/news-events/participatory-geology-project-time-covid-19-italy/

Note: the article was sent to ASEF on March 25, so it does not account for various developments occurred over the following couple of weeks, but it is perfect as an introduction.

For updated news:

Lithology: Public and Geologists Collaborate (Science Connected, Apr. 13, 2020)

In the media, International

An article by Andrea Giacomelli (pseudonym used by Jack O’Malley when he plays as environmental engineer) about the Participatory Lithology project, written for Science Connected Magazine: https://magazine.scienceconnected.org/2020/04/lithology-public-and-geologists-collaborate/

Per more information:

Jary Joe, live from his Balcony, Apr. 11, 2020

Music we like

Jary Joe ci ha dato il permesso di ripubblicare il video fatto ieri sera dal suo amico Alin Corneliu Craciun. Per capire perché la Jug Band Colline Metallifere rilancia questo video dovete tornare al 2014, quando Jack O’Malley si ritrovò alla Combriccola in una jam session con il signore che suona qui dal balcone, e Peter Crivelli, che giusto una settimana fa ci ha mandato la Freedom Ballad. Da allora siamo rimasti in contatto, e non ci dispiacerebbe un giorno fare altra musica d’insieme.

A un primo impatto, per chi non conosce l’artista, potrebbe fare un effetto strano…un pensionato impazzito durante il lockdown che si mette a suonare a palla. Ma, come dicono in Val di Farma: “Vai a giudica’ la vacca a diace’“…Jary Jo è un chitarrista talentuoso che dalla Svizzera ha attraversato la storia musicale rock-pop dagli anni ’60 del secolo scorso in qua, e che ha collaborato anche con personaggioni molto noti (sotto ne abbiamo messi due..foto estratte dal video che trovate sul sito di Jary Joe).

La qualità dell’audio è quella che consente un telefonino dal palazzo dirimpetto, e il direttore della fotografia torna la prossima volta…ma l’energia arriva tutta e i più attenti riconosceranno nel set di Jary Joe una chicca degli anni ’60.

Jary Joe con Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian, al secolo Charles Aznavour
Jary Joe con Brian Auger, al secolo Brian Auger

Participatory Lithology: the map as of Apr. 8, 2020

Compositions

[recommended soundtrack for this post: I have some rocks by Mauro the T-Rex]

We are not in a race, nor have we area manager KPIs to monitor, but it is interesting to share a first map showing where collectors, classifiers, entertainers, and sponsors are operating for Participatory Lithology. This is a project we started on March 21 from Southern Tuscany with the pibinko.org network and the Jug Band Colline Metallifere (Metalliferous Hills Jug Band).

Right now it is not so relevant to expose the differentiation of participant roles. We can say that there are about 30 folks spread across seven Italian regions. For more information and booking: micalosapevo@pibinko.org.

If you don’t know who is the character in the background, please follow this link.

Participatory Lithology, end of week 2: here comes geojazz

Compositions

This was initially sent via our mailing list distribution and is being reposted here.

Hello, I hope you are well.

In Tatti (Southern Tuscany) the sun is shining and a lot of music is spinning around. We just published the daily Lithobag, and [CUUUUT…TOO MUCH INFORMATION].

Some of you may have seen updates via social media, but I like the idea of a weekly summary for our project, at least in these first stages.

The project is receiving international attention, for example by the Science+Technology+Arts inititiative by the European Union.

Concerning the household collections: several sample photos are arriving, mostly from outside Tatti, and out of Tuscany. In addition, other families from Tatti who didn’t know about the project at first have expressed their interest to join.
To avoid overloading the system, we have adopted some basic queue management strategies, but if you sent a sample photo over the past two weeks please be assured that it will be examined.
In parallel, we had other classifiers raising their hand to help. Some from Cagliari, Sardinia, some from Sterzing/Vipiteno, South Tyrol. These are people that we have never met in person, so we are seeing a familiar pattern.

Interaction #1 ‘This story is really cool, I’m in!’. Interaction #2. …takes a bit of time to be triggered and actually operate in the project.

On one hand this is easily motivated by everybody’s daily business and worries. On the other hand, there may be second thoughts (These guys are out of their mind!). With the pibinko.org we have been living in projects like this since 2006, so we are comforted by the fact that it could be no different, and we “keep on keeping on”…

In the meantime, Cristian from Torino, one of the classifiers since day 1, has conducted his review of over 90% of the current samples (some 200 items), and others will follow.
The developments in the entertainerment team have been very good. Last Thursday we published a geojazz tune featuring Liliana Cafiero: Tatti and its stones.
We are working on a third song, and we have received the first response to the Metalliferous Hills Jug Band call for an English mother-tongue vocalist. This came from South Africa, and we are now brainstorming in the team to see how we may collaborate.

Last, but not least, we remind you that it is possible to support the Participatory Lithology project in various ways, as explained in the page for prospective sponsors.

Best regards, and stay safe!

A.

P.S. Mauro the T-Rex is on the loose.

Martina Busonero

Collaborations

Born in Monte Argentario, Southern Tuscany. She has been a photographer since 1997, and living in Tatti, Southern Tuscany, since 2006. She has recently (Jan 2020) published a photo book called Retrospettiva, palio marinaro dell’Argentario, uno sguardo intimo, on the traditional boat race held in Porto Santo Stefano.