Alberi Festival from Modena, a UNESCO City of Media Arts, has issued an open call inviting the public to take part in the art competition “Walking Among Trees”, within the Alberi Festival Lab programme, to be held from 17 to 19 April 2026 at Villaggio Artigiano Modena Ovest. Organised by the Municipality of Modena and Fondazione Archivio Leonardi, the festival invites participants to capture walks through parks and urban green spaces in short, self-produced video works, reflecting on the relationship between the city, nature and contemporary life, as well as the idea that trees should be a model and a tool through which to design and reorganise the contemporary city.
Alberi Festival draws inspiration from the famous drawings of trees by Cesare Leonardi and Franca Stagi, produced between 1960 and 1980 and now preserved in the archive and home studio of Cesare Leonardi in the Villaggio Artigiano Modena Ovest.Their pioneering research culminated into the publication “L’Architettura degli Alberi” (The Architecture of Trees) in 1982, an international handbook for generations of students and landscape architects, bringing about a radical shift in perspective in designing parks and urban green spaces: to conceive urban spaces starting from trees and greenery rather than the other way around.
Following last year’s inaugural edition, “Alberi Festival Lab” will take place in pavilions and public spaces of the Villaggio Artigiano Modena Ovest, from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 April 2026.
This space will be a space for reflection and planning on the idea of the „city of trees“ as well as a forum for discussion on urgent current issues: from the need to restore a harmonious relationship between human space and tree space in cities, to a necessary rethinking of our idea of nature and our consolidated way of life.
We just opened a call aims to collect short self-produced videos documenting walks among trees, in parks and natural areas of the city, either on foot or by bike.
Selected videos will be screened during the Alberi Festival Lab in the form of an immersive installation.
Тhe material submitted must meet the following requirements:
Videos filmed live by the author, with a mobile phone, while walking or cycling through the landscape
Audio: sound of footsteps and ambient noise, no added soundtrack
Duration: around one minute
The mobile phone must be held horizontally.
Info sheet with the author’s name; name/address/location of the filmed area
Max file size: 25 MB
Videos must be submitted by 21 March 2026 via the online form.
More info: info@alberifestival.it
Foto: alberifestival.it