On an abandoned hill, with collapsing stone walls and a 300 year old chestnut and olive trees, Providenza was created in 2016 by Antoine Viviani on the Ghjuncheto, a family land between the villages of Pieve and Rapale in the northwest of Corsica.
Between 2016 and 2020, the land was put back in production, learning the techniques of permaculture and agroforestry.
A coffeeshop was built at the entrance of the land, for the local community to buy fruits and vegetables.
The idea was to create a large garden as a perfect environment for producing art, films and music.
There was a lot of construction to be done, so for several years artists and scientists were invited every summer in an informal residency festival to collaborate and produce works and performances, forcing us to move forward on the development of the land in an inspiring way.
For 5 years, between 2016 and 2022, carrying cinema wooden screens through procession rituals, staging films, concerts or happenings, more than a hundred public performances were given on the land and in the villages around.
Past participants include:
Joshua Bonnetta, Leila Bordreuil, Emanuele Coccia, Crystalmess, Pan Daijing, Alain Damasio, Mati Diop, Anders Edstrom, Lola Gonzalez, Bendik Giske, Emmanuel Gras, Laurel Halo, Lafawndah, Joanie Lemercier, Hanne Lippard, Mehdi Meklat, Vincent Moon, Thierry de Peretti, Caroline Poggi, Ben Rivers, Rone, Ben Russell, Thomas Teurlai, Colin Self, Malena Szlam - Anna Vaz - Jonathan Vinel - Antoine Viviani - Yuyan Wang - Teddy Williams - Curtis Winter - Joseph Schiano Di Lombo, Pedro Neves Marques, Adilei, etc
Slowly, a permanent project took shape, giving to the land proper production as well as farming infrastructures.
Now the Providenza project is dedicated to serve different functions throughout the year :
- A shared artist residency open to international and Corsican artists through different programs (main and partner residencies)
- A transmission space delivering weekly long masterclasses with pioneer artists as well as workshops programs for the local community.
- A private studio and workspace for a small community of artists and label
- A farm and its restaurant open to the public during the summer.