Drawing a Complex Landscape. “Both-And” and “Inside-Outside” in Val Camonica

The landscape in Val Camonica, one of the biggest in the Alps, is a paradigm for its extensive environmental, natural, and cultural heritage. Shaped by glaciers, it has provided slates of sandstone and schist to communities that for thou- sands of years have used them as blackboards on which to leave graphic, geometric, and symbolic stories. Aspects of representation such as perception and drawing are therefore crucial when examining a complex landscape extensively marked by Venturi’s Phenomenon of “Both–And”, where elements can be interpreted in many ways at the same time: signs and symbols with similar geometric matrixes were in fact reproposed later by several civilisations; up to the twentieth century they were also used to decorate architectural elements and numerous everyday objects. This study will use drawing and surveying to examine in-depth the “inside and outside” relationships of the rupestrian graffiti on the big, smooth sandstone rocks along either side of the central area of Val Camonica. The study method is based on the gathering of data and examples; it will include bibliographical and photographic research as well as the survey and representation of several significant scenarios that will be analysed and catalogued according to type and based on their geometric genesis.