Studi sul Qui is a project conceived by Daniele Ietri and Eleonora Mastropietro and developed through various initiatives since 2017. The work is inspired by the concept of deep mapping: an in-depth mapping of territories, carried out through artistic and scientific practices and centered on fieldwork. As the first project in Italy to extensively apply the deep mapping method, Studi sul Qui aims to tell the story of the present in territories overlooked by mainstream narratives. The project involves organizing working groups engaged in deep mapping of specific territories, which vary for each edition (season) of the project. Working both independently and in groups, participants observe the territory and engage with the local population to construct a composite and layered narrative of the present-day reality of communities and territories. Each season involves fieldwork and an immediate presentation to the community, in which the impressions, data, and stories gathered during the work—along with their initial reinterpretations—are presented in various forms. Subsequently, the working materials take on multiple forms, open to experimentation: they become, for example, books, documentaries, photographic projects, musical projects, etc., depending on the sensibilities of those who participated in the initiatives.

DEEP MAPPING AS A PRACTICE Studi sul Qui creates in-depth maps that incorporate the tools of research scientifica, artistic professions and practices intertwine and influence one another. A key reference that inspires us is Clifford McLucas’s Manifesto for Deep Mapping.

01 Deep maps must be LARGE — issues of resolution and detail are solved thanks to their size; 02 Deep maps must be SLOW — they move naturally at the pace dictated by the shape of the land or the weather conditions; 03 Deep maps must be SUMPTUOUS — they embrace a range of diverse media and registers in a sophisticated, multilayered orchestration; 04 Deep maps can only be achieved through the combination of multiple media — they are genuinely multimedia, not for aesthetic effect, but out of practical necessity; 05 Deep maps have at least three basic elements: a graphic component (large, horizontal or vertical), a time-based media component (film, video, performance), and a database or archival system that remains open and unfinished; 06 Deep maps require the engagement of both the insider and the outsider; 07 Deep maps involve both the professional and the amateur, the artist and the scientist, the official and the non-official, the national and the local; 08 Deep maps are likely possible and imaginable only now — digital processes at the core of many modern media practices allow, for the first time, the straightforward combination of different materials in a new creative space; 09 Deep maps do not seek the authorial authority or objectivity of traditional cartography. Instead, they are politicized, passionate, and partisan. They involve negotiation and debate over who and what should be represented and how. They give rise to discussions about the documentation and representation of places and people; 10 Deep maps are unstable, fragile, and temporary. They are a conversation, not a statement.

The application of deep mapping concepts in Studi sul Qui primarily concerns three dimensions. The first is the horizontality among tools and participants, particularly regarding the permeability between the experiences of those involved and between different professional backgrounds. The second dimension concerns the content of the map, which allows for a multiplicity of different media: it goes beyond the idea of mere cartographic representation and opens up the possibility for diverse forms of expression, as long as they serve the narrative of a place. The third dimension concerns time: recognizing that this is an unstable, open, and “unfinished” work places the emphasis on the quality of field presence by participants, privileging the intensity of engagement over the mere quantity of time. In the Studi sul Qui project, the attitude of the participants is central: openness to debate and conversation, willingness to use unconventional methodologies, mastery of one’s own methods to the point of being able to set them aside, and the ability to abandon the role of “expert” in order to immerse oneself in a direct—even instinctive—relationship with the territory.

WHERE WE WORK The project is designed for places that are underrepresented or depicted in a “flat” way. The territories we consider most at risk in this sense are those in a weak position relative to the economic and decision-making “centers.” They are “peripheries” not always because of their geographical location: they can also be territories relatively close to economic centers, or well-connected by infrastructure, yet perceived or represented as distant in space and time. These territories are often described using negative adjectives: “interior,” “peripheral,” “minor,” “marginal,” “fragile,” “remote from the world,” and so on. The deep maps of Studi sul Qui oppose this kind of negative representation, because for the many people who live there, these places are the center.

WHERE WE WANT TO GO Studies on the Here is, by its very nature, an open-ended, precarious process, ready to take unexpected paths and arrive at unexpected outcomes. In light of the five seasons carried out so far, we can make a few observations that may guide us (or be disproven) in future editions: _Studi sul Qui seeks to challenge how we think about the territory and how we represent it: we are questioning the foundational cartography upon which these representations are built; they stand in a dialectical relationship with other representations and are open to interpretations that may be highly contradictory; _the Studies on the Here can exist only if there is collaboration and if established concepts of authorship are challenged, and if we are not daunted by the possibility of plurality, of multiple voices, and of multiple centers of knowledge production; _the Studies on the Here are public and interactive; they are not intended for a specialized audience that must already possess disciplinary knowledge and terminology; _Studies on the Here, finally, seek to embrace an aesthetic language: image, narrative, representation; the artistic or creative element is not a support or a pleasant diversion, but an integral part of the tool (sometimes it is the tool itself), with its own grammar, its own code, and its inherent fragilities.