Context

The Aqua Granda project has created a digital memory of the community, starting from traces found on the web and collected based on contributions from Venetians.

The archive collects and preserves the digital memories left by witnesses of the Aqua Granda flooding in 2019 in Venice. AquaGranda. A Digital Collective Memory is an archive made by citizens for citizens. It is a dynamic system that allows anyone to access, contribute, and (re)interpret the collected contents in relation to a constantly evolving present.

Aqua Granda. A Digital Collective Memory is a project launched on November 12, 2020 by the EU H2020 ODYCCEUS project, Ca' Foscari University , Science Gallery Venice, and DVRI. The initiative includes two exhibitions ( Navigare AquaGranda, 2021 and Sulle Acque, 2022) and a series of events that took place between 2021 and 2022.

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CALL 4 CONTRIBUTORS

The Venice lagoon is a chosen place for many people, whether they were born there and then left, or because they spent a short period as students or workers and were sucked into the lagoon.

Water is not only a geographical environment, a means of connection, but also an element that is part of life, that has a role in the lives of individuals, as well as the community, and can appear in the most personal events. The first time you experience high water is certainly an indelible memory. Or the first time it takes you by surprise, even if you had received an alert from the Tide Centre. Regardless of how much time you spent in the lagoon, there will surely be some memory imprinted in your mind related to the high water phenomenon.

We are looking for these memories.

Distance, both temporal and spatial, mythologizes. Memories of the Venice lagoon with high water can make you reconstruct something that you didn't pay attention to in everyday life but that now, in a period of distance from the city and absence of high water thanks to MOSE, you can relive in your mind, re-elaborated, emphasized, increased.

"Roots in the Water" therefore asks you to return to the submerged lagoon to find yourself, or even just a version of who you were and link it to the reconstruction of the memory of your experience with high water.

WHAT

We ask for expressions in a creative form, through the writing of a short text (maximum length of 2500 characters including spaces) with an ideational mode of free choice. Various types of texts will be possible, from narrative to poetic, dialogic or epistolary form, dedications, songs, nursery rhymes or even prophecies.Textual Contributions (maximum length of 2500 characters including spaces)

THEME

We want to deepen the memory of a climatic phenomenon such as high water. We want to investigate it in all its manifestations: whether they are subtle or violent. Through the use of creative expression in textual form, we hope to question the relationship between humans and the tide, between land and water, between people who share the same aquatic territory.

OBJECTIVES

• To collect memories and experiences of those who have lived in the Venice lagoon and have experienced high water
• To relive the relationship between human beings and the tide
• To explore the theme of the water culture in the lagoon

FOR WHOM?

Anyone can participate, the only constraint is to have a memory to tell.

Long-time residents, temporary residents, students, former students, tourists. And age doesn't matter! Everyone is welcome.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS

To participate, it is necessary to send your contribution by October 6th through this online form.

The participation procedure requires:

• A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. We want to know you, tell us about yourself! What is your relationship with Venice: were you born here? Are you just passing through? Do you work here?
• YOUR CONTRIBUTION. We ask you to attach your contribution.

We will publish all contributions on our website: let us know if you want your name to appear.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Some texts will be selected and read during this edition of AquaGranda - Roots in the Water. A Tide of Memories.

The memories will be included on our website (aquagrandainvenice.it) and disseminated through our channels (social media, newsletter...), but we would also like to publish a collection of these memories within a future publication.

The textual contributions that will be sent to us will be read and commented on by some prominent authors from the literary scene, who will discuss them in a dedicated event and lead to the drafting of a preface to the collection.