Marco Paolini, a prominent figure in the world of art, culture and civic engagement, is considered one of the leading exponents of narrative theatre. For years, he has been recounting reality with an approach characterised by continuous engagement with society, current events and collective memories. Passionate about maps, trains and travel, he pays special attention to the landscape, its changes, history and evolution.

Paolini is a guest of the Earth Emergency 2025 cycle promoted by the Department of Environment Constructions and Design SUPSI in partnership with Bobbium. In his lecture, entitled L’Atlante delle rive: raccontare i fiumi (The Atlas of the shores: telling the story of banks), he is accompanied by journalist Michela Daghini (RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera), who moderates the meeting.

There are 110 river basin districts in Europe and seven in Italy. Any consideration of water, land consumption, ecological flow, withdrawals and governance of available water resources must take into account hydrographic boundaries that do not coincide with administrative boundaries. Describing the territory through river basins, rivers, banks, their histories and their names serves to restore awareness of the country’s physical geography, understand its fragility and critical issues, and create a shared heritage of information that unites active citizens, institutions and stakeholders. In short, a collective voice with which to identify.

Marco Paolini’s lecture will be held in Italian on Wednesday, 22 October 2025, at 18:30 p.m. in the Sala polivalente on the ground floor of the SUPSI Campus in Mendrisio (via Flora Ruchat-Roncati 15).

Free admission upon registration.

In-person event only (remote participation is not possible).

The exhibition

At 20:00, there will be the inauguration of La notte (The night) by artist Paolo Maini, who has held exhibitions in Germany, Thessaloniki, New York, Atlanta, as well as Turin, Milan, Parma and Cremona.

At night, there is no perspective, the horizon is lost, space fades and can be disorienting. In his paintings, Maini suggests our inadequacy in dealing with the epochal changes and global shifts we are experiencing. His night is made up of precariousness, abandonment, silence and solitude: a night that forces us to change our perspectives on human life. Climate change calls into question our confidence in the passage of time and the possibility of thinking positively about the future. What is certain is that it is only at night that dreams and hopes take shape, providing material for the creative and transformative capacity that women and men can use to change reality.

The opening of Paolo Maini’s La notte is scheduled for 20:00 with an introduction by architect Paolo Capriglione.

Final aperitif by food designer Agnese Z'graggen with Capichurri.

The exhibition is open until Friday 21 November 2025 on the ground floor of the Campus SUPSI in Mendrisio (Monday–Friday 9:00–19:00). Admission is free, no reservation required.