In 2018, the RIVA Project resumed its collaboration with Pelago and Montelupo Fiorentino, involving both the historic centre and the outskirts of Florence. Its action paid special attention to environmental issues, as well as the economic, political, and social context. One of the principal events was Paolo Masi’s solo show QUI with a display of twelve new site-specific artworks produced during his six-month residency at MAD Murate Art District. Montelupo Fiorentino was the centre of activity for Yuval Avital and the ConFusion migrant choir directed by Benedetta Manfriani, for Tempo Reale and its Sentieri del silenzio (Paths of Silence) project carried out at the former psychiatric hospital, and for Radio Papesse with Storie dell’Arno a Montelupo (Histories of the Arno in Montelupo). The other town crossed by the Arno, Pelago, hosted photographer Davide Virdis (who presented an exhibit in a public space and held a workshop in collaboration with Fondazione Studio Marangoni) and Studio ++ collective art group.
The Murate Art District was the venue for lectures and Italian and English classes held by LWCircus and the Department of Architecture from the University of Florence. The 2018 edition of the RIVA Project opened to the Far East thanks to a partnership with Zhong Art International, and offered a residency at MAD to three Chinese artists, who were invited to provide their specific vision of the Arno River.

In 2017, RIVA launched a series of site-specific installations, workshops, exhibitions, and encounters that enjoyed the active participation of performers, visual artists, photographers, and sound artists invited to spend a period of residency in Tuscany with the goal of elaborating on new projects around the theme of the river. For the first time, the RIVA Project did not only touch on Florence but was extended to three other Tuscan towns crossed by the Arno: Pontassieve, Pelago, and Montelupo Fiorentino. Beginning with a reflection on the environmental and cultural heritage represented by the river and its bonds with the community and the territory, the artists involved in the Project (Davide Virdis, Katrinem, Adrian Paci, Radio Papesse, Studio ++) worked in these three towns collaborating with the local Councils and the communities to give rise to new artistic projects. The project that RIVA 2017 focused on was a performance along the river, followed by an exhibit of Adrian Paci held in Florence and Pelago with the contribution of Museo Novecento and MAD Murate Art District, which displayed works by Adrian Paci associated with the theme of water as a metaphor of flow, movement, and migration. Berlin artist Katrinem was hosted in Montelupo Fiorentino for her residency under the curatorship of Tempo Reale, during which she performed and recorded her personal crossing of and ‘listening’ to the soundscape.

Familiar Places è un progetto di studio che ha approfondito il rapporto fra il fiume Sieve e la comunità di San Francesco a Pelago.
Attraverso interviste, dialoghi e incontri con gli abitanti, gli artisti Studio ++ hanno rintracciato il rapporto tra il passato e il presente del fiume nell’intento di indurre una maggiore consapevolezza del patrimonio immateriale del nostro paesaggio. Alcune interviste video restituiscono il legame tra popolazione e fiume: racconti di esperienze di vita, idee, aspirazioni e leggende sono messe a confronto con la dimensione tangibile del paesaggio.

In 2016, on the occasion of the fiftieth commemoration of the flood of the Arno River, the RIVA Project focused on the city of Florence to raise awareness on good practices and attitudes toward the territory and the environment through art. Besides the participation of three internationally acclaimed photographers – Jay Wolke, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, and Massimo Vitali – under the curatorship of Studio Marangoni, the project enjoyed the contribution of several artists, including Bernard Fort with Tempo Reale, Radio Papesse, Studio ++, Francesco Pellegrino, Fotoromanzo Italiano, who were commissioned original artistic creations: site-specific installations along the banks of the river, workshops, exhibitions and conferences along the Arno and at MAD Murate Art District. Among the permanent site-specific artworks that can still be visited is the Terzo Giardino (Third Garden), designed by the Studio ++ collective art group: ten thousand square metres over the banks of the river were returned to the city; a green maze whose name reminds of the metaphor used by landscape designer Gilles Clément, who argued that abandoned vegetation in those “residual places left out of the rational organisation of man” is an extraordinary reserve of biodiversity and evolutionary potential.

Un giardino di oltre 10.000 metri quadri che torna alla città grazie a un intervento di arte pubblica. Un palinsesto di eventi per adulti e ragazzi, volto a  valorizzare il rapporto tra l’Arno e la città e a animare un luogo “di confine”. La riva sinistra del fiume sotto Lungarno Serristori si trasforma nel “Terzo Giardino”, grazie alla riqualificazione artistica realizzata dal collettivo Studio ++, un lavoro attento alla conservazione naturale e alla valorizzazione della biodiversità, affiancando all’opera d’arte un programma di incontri, workshop e laboratori per famiglie, che punta a avvicinare l’ambiente fluviale ai cittadini, facendone emergere le peculiarità. Il progetto artistico di Studio ++ si basa su tagli mirati della vegetazione spontanea che cresce nei pressi dell’Arno, sfruttando le tecniche impiegate per il mantenimento degli argini. Due diverse azioni creano aree differenti: “parterre” geometrici divisi in quattro sezioni trasversali e veri e propri muri di vegetazione spontanea. Il risultato è un disegno ispirato alla tradizione del Giardino all’Italiana, con par¬ticolare attenzione al modello dei Giardini dei Semplici. La vegetazione che emerge è costituita dalle piante spontanee della riva del fiume, che, grazie a questo metodo di “sottrazione”, si manifestano in tutta la loro inaspettata biodiversità. L’aggettivo “terzo” richiama la metafora del paesaggista Gilles Clèment che spiega come la vegetazione abbandonata presente nei “residui dell’organizzazione razionale dell’uomo” sia un’importante riserva di biodiversità e potenziale evolutivo.