1869-2071 | The Tropicalisation of the Mediterranean

Sicily is the geometric centre of an ecological, geopolitical, and cultural system that inhabits the Mediterranean Sea, dividing it geographically into four cardinal sectors. Imagining the future of Syracuse basically amounts to speculating on the transformations of the Mediterranean and the impact these will have on the territories and populations around it.

The transformation of the Mediterranean into a tropical sea is part of a vast series of imbalances that contribute to the general overheating of the area. Phenomena such as the progressive abandonment of large industrial plants, the jurisdictional ambiguity of military bases on Sicilian soil, or the telluric movements that animate the Hyblean-Maltese fault, resonate with each other, increasing the revolutionary impact of the tropicalisation of the Mediterranean.

The process that began in 1869, in other words, does not just entail an overturning of the ecosystem, but involves a total transformation of the Mediterranean and consequently of Sicily. The island that will emerge in 2071, between desertification and sinking below sea level, between human migrations and animal colonisation, between industrial transformations and cultural constants, will essentially be a new Sicily. The following research attempts to glimpse the Sicilian mutation, constantly looking back, towards the past, and simultaneously moving inexorably towards the future.