Giulia Mattera
artist
orto methodology
orto methodology is a methodology created by Giulia Mattera as an outcome of her artistic research.
orto methodology is devised as a toolbox merging somatic practices from performance art and gardening (considered as a somatic practice) in order to build a model of interspecies collaboration to tackle the ecological crisis.
orto methodology aims at fantasying on speculative futures that are ecologically, physically and emotionally sustainable.
about
Giulia Mattera (Rome, 2 November 1991) is an artist based in Stockholm (Sweden).
Giulia Mattera's artistic research explores Live Art somatic practices as a tool to collaborate with the non-human.
She considers the garden as her artist’s studio, as a site for interspecies encounters.
Her practice-as-research revolves around the creation of new rituals for collaborative interspecies societies and speculative futures.
Giulia is an artist climate activist for Greenpeace Italia.
Mattera is a visiting lecturer at NABA Nuova Accademia delle Belle Arti Milano (Italy).
Giulia Mattera has performed internationally at Grace Exhibition Space (NYC), DfbrL8r Performance Art Gallery (Chicago, IL), Venice International Performance Art Week (taly), Warsaw International Performance Art Weekend (Poland), amongst other venues.
She holds a Masters degree in Performance Making from Goldsmiths College (London, UK), whereas her undergraduate studies at University of Warwick (UK) and University of Pisa (Italy) focused on art and communication.
For full CV, email contact@giuliamattera.com
performance
The artist did not leave the space of Una Vetrina, spending both day and night inside the window for one week.
Eating, sleeping there.
The artist did not speak to anyone for the whole duration of the performance.
With no electronic device, without a watch nor somebody informing them about the time passing, what day or time it was.
The artist spent the week contemplating nostalgia, writing messages with different and not pre-determined recipients on topics including both intimate and social issues.
All those coming to the performance were invited to write what nostalgia was to them on a piece of paper and stick it on the window.
Audience was free to share photos, videos and comments followed by the hashtag #nostalgiaperformance.
Playlist of the song I thought of, heard play in my head during my staying in the Vetrina.
Curator: Giuseppe Garrera.
Thanks from the bottom of my heart to my mentor Linda Mary Montano for her precious support in creating this performance.
Duration: 1 week
Performed at Una Vetrina, the Independent MAXXI (Rome, Italy)
Date: 11-17 December 2018
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Emotional Labour is the need to suppress your own emotions, specifically to fit and be accepted in your work context.
This durational performance analyses the delicacy, precarity, vulnerability of working in the art world and in this society in large.
While co-existing in the same small tub with an albine axolotl (endangered aquatic salamander) for 2.30 hours, the artist puts her body to the risk of toxic chemicals released by the axolotl touching other animals, while the fear towards the axolotl transforms into a playful relationship.
P.S. the axolotl is named Lolita.
Performed at DfbrL8r Performance Art Gallery (Chicago, IL, USA) as part of Bubbly Creek Performance Assembly.
16th June 2019
Curated by Angeliki Tsoli.
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This durational performance analyses the delicacy, precarity, vulnerability of working in the art world and in this society in large.
While co-existing in the same small tub with an albine axolotl (endangered aquatic salamander) for 2.30 hours, the artist puts her body to the risk of toxic chemicals released by the axolotl touching other animals, while the fear towards the axolotl transforms into a playful relationship.
P.S. the axolotl is named Lolita.
Performed at DfbrL8r Performance Art Gallery (Chicago, IL, USA) as part of Bubbly Creek Performance Assembly.
16th June 2019
Curated by Angeliki Tsoli.
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Plant time (2020) is an intervention in the midst of one of the busiest shopping streets in Europe, via del Corso in Rome.
The performance is a collaboration with a plant. The artist, sitting in the middle of the street, practices a mode of embodied attunement with the plant, a monstera. How can a human body learn time from a plant? Plant's time is opposite to fast-paced human time.
During the performance, the artist cleans the leaves of the monstera, washing them with a cloth and water mixed with peppermint essential oil (which is a natural pesticide repellent)- this method is specific for looking after plants with large foliage such as a monstera, in order to prevent dust resting on its leaves.
Could we humans engage into an intimate path of discovery of plant time through actions of care?
"Plant time" is part of the Festival de Performance CUERPAS Internacional(Valparaíso, Chile).
The performance is a collaboration with a plant. The artist, sitting in the middle of the street, practices a mode of embodied attunement with the plant, a monstera. How can a human body learn time from a plant? Plant's time is opposite to fast-paced human time.
During the performance, the artist cleans the leaves of the monstera, washing them with a cloth and water mixed with peppermint essential oil (which is a natural pesticide repellent)- this method is specific for looking after plants with large foliage such as a monstera, in order to prevent dust resting on its leaves.
Could we humans engage into an intimate path of discovery of plant time through actions of care?
"Plant time" is part of the Festival de Performance CUERPAS Internacional(Valparaíso, Chile).
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During the performance, the artist Giulia Mattera lived in the woods with no phone, no watch, completely immersed in the sensuous encounter with the surrounding environment.
Creating a modern ritual to celebrate the summer solstice- through Suelo Methodolgycreated by Ela Spalding- Mattera embarks in an attempt of magnifying non-human preparations for the summer solstice by building an altar for the SOle (sun) and SOil.
Through various immersive activities, participants where led in a sensorial discovery of the surrounding community.
Participants to the performance reached the site by walking for around forty minutes in the woods, following a map with drawings picturing the vicinities where fourteen wooden signals marked the path towards Mattera's secret location.
Participants where invited to bring offers, of whatever nature, to the sun and the soil- keeping in mind that the artist fed herself only through edible plants collected by her in the woods and through the offers brought by the visitors.
Comunicato stampa (Press release ITA)
Interview by Amalia di Lanno on SEGNO contemporary art magazine.
Dates: 18-21 June 2022.
Location: Pollinaria's woods (Abruzzo, Italy)
Partners:
Pollinaria
Estudio Nebuso
GALA Green Art Lab Alliance
Two side-events accompanied the performance: a symbolic itinerary through the history of performance art and ecology by the art historian Sibilla Panerai, and a guided walk of Pollinaria's edible plants by the herbalist Anna Lisa Cantelmi.
Ph. Andrea Straccini
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ORACOLO is a participative performance where the artist- with surreal gestures- establishes a silent dialogue with one person at a time, aiming at reading together the natural haruspices hiding behind appearances. With the assistance of a card deck designed by her for this performance, and with a series of bizarre imaginary instruments, the artist invites the participants to reflect and interact with natural elements, playfully re-elaborating symbolic meanings in the form of divinatory verdict.
Curated by Sibilla Panerai.
ALT Festival 2023
FLORIAN ESPACE (Pescara, Abruzzo, Italia)
Sole 18 giugno 2023
ph. Ionela Mimiteh
Curated by Sibilla Panerai.
ALT Festival 2023
FLORIAN ESPACE (Pescara, Abruzzo, Italia)
Sole 18 giugno 2023
ph. Ionela Mimiteh
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Duration: 3 hours
Materials: soil, pencils, one pencil sharpener, nettle, 1 arum-lily (calla flower), cord, a demijohn
Performed at Essenziale. Certe volte sogno/ Altri Mondi
Curated by Roberta Melasecca and ignorarte.com
Hosted by Interno 14 (Rome)
Sunday 26th March 2017
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(Eduardo Kohn, How Forests Think)
The performance “Defamaliarizng the Human” is the attempt to awaken individual awareness of the interconnectedness of all phenomena in life, via questioning the foundations and peculiarities of being human.
During the performance there is no light, each person has one box of matches to light in order to see the action. The performer whispers questions to each person asking to choose one person in the room to give the answer to.
Duration: 40minutes
Materials: 27 paper bags, 27 cigarettes, 27 boxes of matches with 32 matches each, 5kilos yellow mushrooms, 8meters black stain chain
Defamiliarizing the human, performed at Grace Exhibition Space, may 2018. (Brooklyn, NYC, USA)
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desertification is in my bones is a site-specific performance born from the research on the relationship between desertification in the soil and desertification in the human body.
During the performance the artist walks backwards- with a knife ending her braided hair- on the bed of a dried stream of water.
The action stimulates reflections on the urgency of counter-actions in order to face the threat of climate issues.
Date: Sole 29th May 2022
Location: Joya: arte + ecología
(Vélez-Blanco, Almería, Spain)
“IL PROGETTO desertification is in my bones È REALIZZATO CON IL SOSTEGNO DEL PROGRAMMA MOVIN’UP SPETTACOLO-PERFORMING ARTS 2021/2022”
MOVIN'UP SPETTACOLO – PERFORMING ARTS 2021/2022
A cura di MIC Ministero della Cultura - Direzione Generale Spettacolo e GAI - Associazione per il Circuito dei Giovani Artisti Italiani insieme con Regione Puglia - TPP Teatro Pubblico Pugliese
MOVIN'UP SPETTACOLO – PERFORMING ARTS 2021/2022
promoted by MIC Ministry of Cultural - General Directorate for Performing Arts and GAI Association for the Circuit of the Young Italian Artists together with TPP Puglia Public Theater - Apulia Region
During the performance the artist walks backwards- with a knife ending her braided hair- on the bed of a dried stream of water.
The action stimulates reflections on the urgency of counter-actions in order to face the threat of climate issues.
Date: Sole 29th May 2022
Location: Joya: arte + ecología
(Vélez-Blanco, Almería, Spain)
“IL PROGETTO desertification is in my bones È REALIZZATO CON IL SOSTEGNO DEL PROGRAMMA MOVIN’UP SPETTACOLO-PERFORMING ARTS 2021/2022”
MOVIN'UP SPETTACOLO – PERFORMING ARTS 2021/2022
A cura di MIC Ministero della Cultura - Direzione Generale Spettacolo e GAI - Associazione per il Circuito dei Giovani Artisti Italiani insieme con Regione Puglia - TPP Teatro Pubblico Pugliese
MOVIN'UP SPETTACOLO – PERFORMING ARTS 2021/2022
promoted by MIC Ministry of Cultural - General Directorate for Performing Arts and GAI Association for the Circuit of the Young Italian Artists together with TPP Puglia Public Theater - Apulia Region
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Ephemeral bedtime for (the) wood[']s [ramblers] is a performance for the woods and an installation for the wanderers, allegorically offering an ephemeral space to rest.
Part of the project about impermanence by Field Experience.
Map
The site is in Bosco Grande Macchia, in the countryside near Rome (Italy).
Date: Sunday 4th October 2020
I wanted to observe the effects of a prolonged time of silence on my body, in my mind. The whole experience of the residency speaks of acceptance, of creating space, non-judgemental grounds like welcoming embraces.
Arteles itself is an enchanting place. The residency has been a life-changing experience, a spiritual sensorial journey. The bonds with the other residents have given rise to stimulating experimentations which have triggered even more openness and trust towards the creative process and life in general.
I decided to share the gifts of silence in a site-specific performance.
The performance Seeing youRself sensING took place in the woods near Arteles at dusk on the 20th March 2019, when the spring equinox and the full moon coincided (this overlap only happens once every fourty years circa).
On the day of the performance, every participant received a personalised envelope containing: an invitation letter with instructions, an origami airplane, a folded paper to open only once arrived to the roots, a quote chosen by observing them (as I wasn't having direct conversations with them at that moment). The invitation letter suggested to dedicate the day on retrieving personal denied feelings, to find them in the body, to be with them, to write them down. The instructions invited the participants to embark on a group silent walk in the woods, following a path marked by 27 ribbons around tree trunks. The last ribbon was attached to the roots of a fallen pine tree; I was inside the roots. The performance was a ritual of acceptance and emancipation during which each person burnt their denied feelings and saw themselves sensing.
Seeing youRself sensING is part of an ongoing series of performances happening on the days marking the change of season.
"Seeing yourself sensing" refers to Olafur Eliasson's research on consciousness and self-awareness triggered by the direct experience with an artwork.
Arteles Catalogue
Ph. Fiona Kemp, Melissa Delaney.
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Though the engagement in a one-to-one performance, Parlour roots around the emotional tightness and the depriving vulnerability of prostitution- taking distance from its literal reading and focusing on a sensory discovery.
The performance took place inside the pizza oven of the gallery courtyard. The performer spent 6 hours inside the oven among 30 kilos of grapes.
Duration: 6 hours
Materials: oven, grapes, hair, needles, scissors
Parlour was performed as part of Live Art Series organised by Sensorium Space at Point Centre for Contemporary Art (Nicosia, Cyprus), 2016
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F-
ALL: yes, I am falling is part of an ongoing series of performances happening on the days marking the change of season.
Fall, autumn: falling, failure, acceptance. Beyond the binary of right and wrong.
During the performance the artist falls backwards in the arms of the participants, involving them in various tasks whispered in secret: one person receives a chronometer and has to keep track of the time, clapping once after exactly one hour.
Duration: one hour.
Curated by Alice Bortolazzo
Label 1201(Rome, Italy)
Fall, autumn: falling, failure, acceptance. Beyond the binary of right and wrong.
During the performance the artist falls backwards in the arms of the participants, involving them in various tasks whispered in secret: one person receives a chronometer and has to keep track of the time, clapping once after exactly one hour.
Duration: one hour.
Curated by Alice Bortolazzo
Label 1201(Rome, Italy)
In occasione dell’equinozio di autunno, Giulia Mattera propone la performance F-ALL: yes, I am falling, terza di una serie di azioni realizzate dall’artista durante i cambi di stagione. In questo caso il titolo, evocativo del ciclo autunnale in arrivo, preannuncia senza rivelare ciò che avrà luogo durante la serata-evento del 21 settembre nello spazio di Label201 a Roma, il cui contenuto viene tenuto intenzionalmente riservato sino al momento dell’inaugurazione. Una parola chiave scelta con cura – cadere – che intimorisce e attira allo stesso tempo il pubblico contemporaneo, poiché sinonimo di un concetto di fallimento inaccettabile nella società in cui viviamo, eppure quasi fisiologico come il processo di spoliazione degli alberi in autunno, a cui né l’uomo né la natura stessa possono sottrarsi. E dunque, perché non provare ad accettare un limite universale come un dato di fatto, sospendendo per una volta il giudizio binario di positivo/negativo e ponendoci solo come osservatori di quello che succede? Perché non pensare e sentire la possibilità di cadere come un lasciarsi andare catartico, accettando la non-linearità delle nostre vite e, forse, trovando anche la fiducia che non lo faremo da soli, ma che potrebbe esserci qualcuno a sorreggerci? L’azione dell’artista introduce questi concetti ponendo il pubblico in una condizione di dovercisi confrontare e invitandolo, insieme a lei, ad addentrarvisi, sino ad interiorizzarlo e a partecipare ad un’azione di gruppo. Il percorso di consapevolezza attivato dalla performance viene favorito da cinque elementi semplici ma allestiti con attenzione, come quinto è Vishuddha – il chackra della gola – rappresentato dal colore blu diffuso nella sala. Corpo, spazio, luce, un oggetto-simbolo evocativo e, appunto, la voce dell’artista stessa, che in questo caso è la guida che ci aiuta a prender parte a quello che avviene, introducendoci in uno stato quasi meditativo. F-ALL: yes, I am falling parla di accoglienza: quella della Mattera nei confronti del suo pubblico, nel tentativo di accorciare la distanza artista-fruitore attraverso l’atto performativo. Quella rituale per l’arrivo della nuova stagione, omaggio a un’ormai remota connessione umana con la natura, tematica da sempre cara alla sua ricerca. È infine accoglienza privata di ciascuno di noi verso i nostri limiti personali e accoglienza collettiva verso il nostro prossimo, che possiamo riscoprire attraverso il contatto, come strumento primario di riconnessione e accettazione di noi stessi.
Alice Bortolazzo
ph. Luisa Galdo
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Severing Tide is a site-specific performance exploring the connection between the human body and water.
Questioning the rigid rationale imposed by humans over ever changing emotions- the opposite behaviour of water which naturally adapts and contributes to the continuous changes-
Severing Tide challenges psychophysical limits through endurance.
Severing Tide was performed on the summer solstice (21st June 2018) in a water stream in the Taleggio Valley (Italian Alps).
During the performance the artist walked back and forth a line breaking the stream horizontally for over an hour, starting when the first light of dawn came out.
This stream collects water melting from the mountain glaciers, meaning the water temperature in that stretch of the stream is around less than 8 Celsius degrees. A body submerged on such a low temperature is exposed to the risk of hypothermia or even death. The artist consulted a doctor prior the performance.
In order to reach the site, the audience engaged in a 1hour hike during the night (leaving for the site at 3am) and overlooked the action from a bridge, informing them of the arrival at the site by being lit by candles.
Each audience member received a specific message on a paper asking not to ever share its content with anyone.
Duration: 1 hour circa
Performed at Ponte del Caman, Val Taleggio (Italy)
Nature, Art, Habitat Residency on water (NAHR)
June 2018
Questioning the rigid rationale imposed by humans over ever changing emotions- the opposite behaviour of water which naturally adapts and contributes to the continuous changes-
Severing Tide challenges psychophysical limits through endurance.
Severing Tide was performed on the summer solstice (21st June 2018) in a water stream in the Taleggio Valley (Italian Alps).
During the performance the artist walked back and forth a line breaking the stream horizontally for over an hour, starting when the first light of dawn came out.
This stream collects water melting from the mountain glaciers, meaning the water temperature in that stretch of the stream is around less than 8 Celsius degrees. A body submerged on such a low temperature is exposed to the risk of hypothermia or even death. The artist consulted a doctor prior the performance.
In order to reach the site, the audience engaged in a 1hour hike during the night (leaving for the site at 3am) and overlooked the action from a bridge, informing them of the arrival at the site by being lit by candles.
Each audience member received a specific message on a paper asking not to ever share its content with anyone.
Duration: 1 hour circa
Performed at Ponte del Caman, Val Taleggio (Italy)
Nature, Art, Habitat Residency on water (NAHR)
June 2018
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Plant Trafficking is an intervention that took place in the Trastevere neighbourhood in Rome (Italy). The actions undertaken by the artist during the performance reflect on the illegal trade of plants, the complex dynamics between plant’s monetary worth and their emotional value. Plants as ornaments or plants as kin?
The performance sheds light on the presence of plants in everyday life and the dark secrets behind them: do you know if the ginseng/coffee you drink was harvested/traded legally? Do you know what’s behind the tabacco you smoke? Do you buy your vegetables packaged or unpackaged, from a farmer or from multinationals? Where do the plants in your home come from and what was the journey they took to arrive to you?
But first of all what are plants to you? A good or a kin? How much would you be willing to pay for one of your kins? Can buying a plant be comparable to adopting a child? What are the ethical issues we are willing to turn a blind eye on and in which ethical boundaries are we comfortable navigating in?
Duration: 4hours
Date: 31st august 2021
STOPS:
1) flower shop
2) tabacco shop
3) coffee shop
4) market
5) bookstore
6) post office
ph. Yassine Dimilo
The performance sheds light on the presence of plants in everyday life and the dark secrets behind them: do you know if the ginseng/coffee you drink was harvested/traded legally? Do you know what’s behind the tabacco you smoke? Do you buy your vegetables packaged or unpackaged, from a farmer or from multinationals? Where do the plants in your home come from and what was the journey they took to arrive to you?
But first of all what are plants to you? A good or a kin? How much would you be willing to pay for one of your kins? Can buying a plant be comparable to adopting a child? What are the ethical issues we are willing to turn a blind eye on and in which ethical boundaries are we comfortable navigating in?
Duration: 4hours
Date: 31st august 2021
STOPS:
1) flower shop
2) tabacco shop
3) coffee shop
4) market
5) bookstore
6) post office
ph. Yassine Dimilo
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workshops
Giulia Mattera leads workshops based on her artistic practice.
If you would like to book a workshop or host it in your facility, please email contact@giuliamattera.com
Available workshops:
✿ The Somatic Garden
The workshop “The Somatic Garden” is an invitation to explore, through bodily practices, the dialogue between the human body and the non-human agents present in the garden.
In the garden, intended as a place of encounter and inter-species collaboration, we sensorially sift through models for the creation of ecologically sustainable futures.
✿ Performance Art and Ecology
The workshop "Performance Art and Ecology" is an exploration of the historical performances related to ecological practices, and a way to explore the potential of performance art towards contemporary ecological issues.
The workshop "Performance Art and Ecology" is an exploration of the historical performances related to ecological practices, and a way to explore the potential of performance art towards contemporary ecological issues.
✿ kidz in the orto
"kidz in the orto" is a workshop for children between the ages of 4yo and 9yo to engage with the vegetable garden through games and hands-on activities.
"kidz in the orto" is a workshop for children between the ages of 4yo and 9yo to engage with the vegetable garden through games and hands-on activities.
shop
The greenwashing postcards are literally postcards you can purchase and mail to your beloved ones, or collect them if, like me, you have a thing for art postcards.
greenwashing postcards expose the misleading marketing strategies of greenwashing.
Each postcard discloses a greenwashing scandal by a specific company.
All the greenwashing postcards are devised and drawn by Giulia Mattera.
Greenpeace UK describes 'greenwashing' as 'PR tactic that's used to make a company or product appear environmentally friendly without meaningfully reducing its environmental impact'.
greenwashing postcards expose the misleading marketing strategies of greenwashing.
Each postcard discloses a greenwashing scandal by a specific company.
All the greenwashing postcards are devised and drawn by Giulia Mattera.
Greenpeace UK describes 'greenwashing' as 'PR tactic that's used to make a company or product appear environmentally friendly without meaningfully reducing its environmental impact'.
flowerbodies is a series of illustrations depicting imaginary flowers, where the parts of the flower are replaced by parts of human bodies.
flowerbodies are devised and drawn by Giulia Mattera.
flowerbodies are drawn with fineliners on dark brown paper recycled from hazelnuts scraps, and made in Italy.
meditation with your plant kin is part of my artistic practice. I have started meditating with plants as an [artistic] experiment fusing together various meditative practices.
© Giulia Mattera, 2025. All rights reserved.