Corrente n.4 – Special Edition

The fourth edition of the Corrente fanzine focuses on the concept of eco-anxiety, a phenomenon that has emerged in response to climate change and extreme environmental events. Through psychological and social analysis and insights, the fanzine offers a positive and constructive perspective on the issue.

IT IS POSSIBLE TO TALK ABOUT THE CLIMATE WITHOUT CREATING PANIC (OR ILLUSIONS)

Every time we talk about the climate crisis, we are doing much more than communicating a social environmental problem. We are touching on something deeply human: fear of the future, the struggle to remain lucid amid uncertainty, the need to still feel capable of making a difference. Who has never felt overwhelmed?

This is why talking about climate change has become so complex: on the one hand, there is urgency, the data is getting worse, extreme events are increasing, and inequalities are amplifying. On the other hand, there is the risk that if the narrative is too anxiety-provoking or moralistic, it will produce the opposite effect to that hoped for: emotional blockage, escape, disinterest.

In recent years, a term has spread that attempts to give a name to all this: eco-anxiety, which is not a disease, but an understandable and increasingly frequent reaction; it is that tangle of emotions ranging from concern and helplessness to guilt about not doing enough that arises when one is too exposed to the climate crisis and too little supported in transforming that awareness into action.

But then, you might ask, if it’s so scary, why do we insist on talking about it? The answer is because a new (kinder) approach is possible, by changing our tone, words, and posture. It’s not what we say that makes the difference, but how we say it. There’s no need to sugarcoat reality, but neither should we serve it up raw. Good climate communication doesn’t simplify, blame, or sensationalize. It accompanies. It restores context, connection, possibility.

It means avoiding catastrophic narratives, stopping talking only to consumers and starting to talk more to individuals. It means showing that change is already underway in many parts of the world, such as in schools, in local areas, in political and consumer choices, and that the contribution of each of us is important, but cannot be the only one.

And mind you, eco-anxiety is not a necessary condition for becoming conscious individuals, but it can be a stepping stone if it is accepted, listened to, and transformed into something alive. That is, if we give it space without making it a burden to carry alone.

So, perhaps the challenge is to talk about the climate and human crisis without losing touch with hope. Not the naive kind that waits for a miracle, but the concrete kind that arises when we feel part of something and not alone in the face of all this.

UUUUDUM

UUUUDUM is the artistic process of the OPificaa Collective designed by Luca Lagash and MOG Morgana Orsetta Ghini as part of research with the technology hub of HTW Berlin University, in collaboration with AWorld, official partner of the United Nations for the development of sustainability, PPK Innovation, Farm Cultural Park, and SOU School of Architecture for Children.

It is an evolution of the work Uno Di Un Milione (One in a Million), which began in 2019 with the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan and in collaboration with the Val di Sole Tourism Board and UN Mountain, created between the summit of Pejo 3000 and the springs of the Stelvio National Park.
With a visionary gaze and abstract language, UUUUDUM interprets the phenomena of desertification and glacier extinction by setting up workshops with schools and community centers that host the works and exhibitions.

The Sculptures

The project consists of 10 events coordinated with 10 workshops that give life to 10 portions of MOG’s work, through which we literally sit on the signs of climate change.

Your Sound

By registering on uuuudum.com, everyone can receive a personal sound: these “sound identities” will be orchestrated by Luca Lagash to produce the Soundscapes installed in the sculptural spaces during the 10 events.

The Poetic Manifesto

The journey is narrated by Alessandro Cremonesi’s Poetic Manifesto, which, through dreamlike suggestions and quotations, recalls the importance of harmony between man, the territory, and the cultures with which he intertwines: a vision of conscious and sustainable cohabitation.

FullDome 360°

Sergey Prokofyev’s experimental architecture applied to immersive 360° FullDome environments offers us the key to expanding the interpretative potential of the UUUUDUM artistic process in collaboration with 3D VR research. Michele Piazza’s direction documents every stage of the process, providing a sensitive look at works, places, and experiences.

BIO

The OP Collective—since 2024 known as Collettivo OPificaa—was founded by artists Luca Lagash, MOG (Morgana Orsetta Ghini), and Alessandro Cremonesi, together with literary critic and publisher Thomas Böhm and Paolo Grigolli, an expert in tourism and cultural management. The Collective creates artistic processes to interpret environmental issues and promote shared actions. Its international approach favors interdisciplinary models of knowledge where culture, science, and technology are integrated, strengthening the link between communities and institutions. UUUUDUM is the Collective’s latest artistic project, designed as part of a research program with the technology hub of HTW Berlin University.

uuuudum.com