A course in ethnobotanics through brand-new Italian agricultural landscapes, from the Chinese pergolas in Tuscany looming over the vineyards to a small Senegalese farm on the banks of the Piave river, via the Bengalese plantations of Bagheria and the seeds from Wenzhou that sprout in the fertile soils of the Padana plains. The action, a cross between workshop and performance, draws on words and images to develop and present a new form of biodiversity, sowing the seeds of future culinary arts in Italy.
Foreign plants have in fact already been growing for a number of years in Italy, spread throughout small plots or family run farms. The majority of these have been introduced in Italy by migrants for their own use and consumption.
In reality, no seed belongs to a specific place, as it is, by nature, a vessel transporting information across new lands and towards the future.

The event, part of the programme Ogni volta unica la fine del mondo, is part of Alleanze multispecie, which studies collective forms of examining our position in the world, posing the question of whether the ideas that take form as we interact in symbiosis with other species can generate a hybrid aspect capable of repairing the fracture between Nature and Culture that has characterised the Anthropocene.

Leone Contini studied philosophy and cultural anthropology at the University of Siena. His work walks the line between art and ethnography. His practices include textual and audio-visual narration, installations, lecture-performances, workshops and collective action. In recent years he has held exhibitions or organised interventions at: Kër Thiossane, Dakar; Maxxi, Rome; SAVVY, Berlin; Sophiensæle, Berlin; PAV, Turin; IAC, Lyon; Manifesta 12, Palermo; Fondazione Sandretto, Turin; Museo delle Civiltà, Rome; Mudec, Milan; Quadriennale, Rome; Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella; Mart, Rovereto; Biennale D-0 Ark Underground, Bosnia; Delfina Foundation, London; Kunstraum, Munich; Khoj, New Delhi; Galleria Civica, Trento; Kunstverein Amsterdam; Museo Pecci, Prato; Villa Romana, Florence.
In 2020 he was one of the winners of Cantica21.
In 2018-2019 he served as a fellow at the Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart.
In 2017 he won the second edition of the Italian Council, and the event saw the purchase of one of his works by MUDEC.
In 2017 he also collaborated with “TRACES - Transmitting Contentious Cultural Heritages with the Arts”.