Smach Biennale 2025

The SMACH Biennale 2025, opening on 12 July, presents 10 site-specific artworks responding to “CU”, the keyword of its seventh edition.

This year, the open-air exhibition draws inspiration from a Ladin term: the “cu”, a whetstone traditionally used to sharpen scythes for mowing grass in alpine meadows. Still found in the Val Badia region, the “cu” symbolises materiality, imagination, craftsmanship, and technical evolution. It also speaks to the universal nature of basic tools and shared human needs.

Documentary filmmaker and ethnomusicologist Paolo Vinati captures this living heritage through an interview with one of the few remaining people who still mow by hand, keeping the tradition alive.

The whetstone becomes a symbol through which artists and visitors reflect on themes such as human progress, continuity of ancient crafts, the universality of tools and gestures, and the preservation—or potential loss—of cultural heritage across time.