Celibi. Storia di una migrazione botanica

Celibi. Storia di una migrazione botanica (Celibi. The Story of a Botanical Migration

A project by Donata Lazzarini

curated by Maria Rosa Sossai

Celibi. Story of a botanical migration, by artist Donata Lazzarini and curated by Maria Rosa Sossai, is now underway. The project analyses the consequences of biodiversity loss through the languages of art, education and scientific research, featuring a series of in-depth events – comprising a guided tour for students and the public, a workshop, a seminar and an international conference – and an exhibition entitled Il giorno in cui Woodii si svegliò femmina (The Day Woodii Woke Up Female), which will open on 8 May 2026 at 5.00 pm at the Botanical Garden of the University of Palermo.  

Supported by the PAC2025 public call – Plan for Contemporary Art, promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, the project is commissioned by Unipa Heritage, the University of Palermo’s Museum System, with the aim of creating new works of art for the Botanical Garden.

This continues the journey through contemporary art and culture that this leading scientific institution has been undertaking since 2017, having hosted the ‘Garden of Flows’ section of Manifesta 12 – Palermo, as well as projects and works by artists such as Fallen Fruit, Domenico Pellegrino, Alessandro Sala and Francesco Diluca, to name but a few. In this vein, the Botanical Garden of the University of Palermo – the richest in Italy and among the foremost in Europe, with its outstanding scientific collection comprising over 12,000 species of living plants and covering an area of approximately 10 hectares – is promoting the project by Donata Lazzarini, an artist and lecturer in Sculpture at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, whose research focuses on the relationships between environment and landscape through diverse artistic practices.

Celibi. The Story of a Botanical Migration begins with a tale that epitomises the history of botany: that of Encephalartos woodii, one of the rarest plants on the planet.

Discovered in 1895 in the Ngoye Forest (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) by the botanist John Medley Wood, after whom the plant was named, E. woodii is a cycad belonging to the order Cycadales, one of the oldest plant forms on Earth. Only a single polycormic male group of this species was ever found; the uprooting and relocation of the existing specimens led to its extinction in the wild in 1916, though it has survived ex situ in botanical gardens and collections. Today, E. woodii survives only as a clone or hybrid; the closest relative to the original South African species is Encephalartos woodii × natalensis, housed at the Botanical Garden of the University of Palermo.
 

PUBLIC PROGRAMME

Building on this story, Celibi constructs a poetic-scientific atlas of loss and possibility, offering a starting point for examining our ecological present through a narrative that weaves together scientific rigour, education and artistic imagination.

The project involves research carried out in collaboration with a scientific committee from the University of Palermo comprising Michelangelo Gruttadauria, President of Unipa Heritage – University Museum System, Rosario Schicchi, Director of the Botanical Garden, Manlio Speciale, botanist and curator of the Botanical Garden, Giuseppina Pisciotta Tosini, Full Professor of Agricultural Law, Donata Lazzarini, artist, and Maria Rosa Sossai, project curator. Three artist residencies are planned at the Botanical Garden in Palermo, as well as a study visit to Kew Gardens in London, together with the scientific committee, where the specimen of Encephalartos woodii is located. The public programme alternates between study and research sessions and outreach events designed for a wider audience: a guided tour of the Botanical Garden with Manlio Speciale on 24 March and a workshop led by Donata Lazzarini at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo on 25 March.  

On 6 May, the RISO Museum – Regional Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Palermo – will host a talk with Laura Cinti, artist, researcher and co-founder of C-LAB. On 7 and 8 May, a major international conference will bring together experts, researchers, academics and artists working on biodiversity from both ethical and scientific perspectives in the Sala delle Capriate of the Complesso Monumentale dello Steri. Finally, two educational workshops led by Caterina Strafalaci, co-founder of ‘Radici. Piccolo Museo della Natura’, will conclude the public programme at the Botanical Garden. A publication edited by Palermo Publishing will be dedicated to the project.

EXHIBITION:  Il giorno in cui Woodii si svegliò femmina. (The Day Woodii Woke Up a Woman).

At the heart of the Celibi project is the exhibition "The Day Woodii Woke Up a Woman*", a site-specific installation by Donata Lazzarini, which will open on 8 May at 5.00 pm in the Botanical Gardens of the University of Palermo. Ten sculptures in ceramic and white porcelain by the artist imagine possible, hitherto unknown forms of Woodii’s female strobilus through the reworking of ancient botanical illustrations, which will be placed in dialogue with the Herbarium collection. A large window sticker, applied to the glass panels of the façade of the Cactaceae Greenhouse, will translate the dialogue between biology and art into a rhizomatic map. A manifesto work, a visual and poetic compendium of the research, will be printed in a thousand copies and available free of charge to visitors.

Opening 8 May 2026 at 5.00 pm

The exhibition is open until 20 October

PUBLIC PROGRAMME CALENDAR  
Celibi. Story of a botanical migration

Tuesday 24 March 5.00 pm – 6.00 pm, Botanical Garden of the University of Palermo

A stroll with Woodii

Guided tour with Manlio Speciale, curator of the Botanical Garden of the University of Palermo, Donata Lazzarini and Maria Rosa Sossai, and the classes of the Contemporary Plastic Arts Course at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo, taught by Professor Francesco Albano. Admission with ticket for the public.

Wednesday 25 March, 9.00 am – 12.00 pm, Academy of Fine Arts, Palermo

What is Fading Away

A workshop led by Donata Lazzarini at the Academy of Fine Arts, Palermo, aimed at students on Professor Francesco Albano’s Contemporary Sculpture Techniques course.

A selection of the sculptures created by the students will be displayed in the Botanical Gardens of the University of Palermo and will be on view on the day of the exhibition opening.

Wednesday 6 May, 6.00 pm, RISO. Regional Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Palermo

Becoming Female

Talk: artist Donata Lazzarini and curator Maria Rosa Sossai will be in conversation with artist Laura Cinti, co-founder of C-LAB, a London-based collective that brings together art, science and technology. Moderated by Diego Mantoan, Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, UniPa.  The talk takes place as part of the Cycle of Contemporary Conversations coordinated by Diego Mantoan and the doctoral days of the University of Palermo and the Academy of Fine Arts. Participants include Michelangelo Gruttadauria, President of the University Museum System (Unipa Heritage), and Rosario Schicchi, director of the Botanical Garden of the University of Palermo.
 

Thursday 7 May, 2.30 pm – 7.30 pm

Friday 8 May, 9.30 am – 1.30 pm

Sala delle Capriate, Complesso Monumentale dello Steri

International conference:Biodiversity conservation, nature restoration and de-extinction

Friday 8 May, 5.00 pm, Botanical Garden of the University of Palermo

Opening of the exhibition The Day Woodii Woke Up Female

And finally, two educational workshops at the Botanical Garden on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 May, entitled ‘Seminudi’, led by Caterina Strafalaci, co-founder of the Radici. Piccolo Museo della Natura project 
 

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The project is supported by PAC2025 – Plan for Contemporary Art, promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture

Donata Lazzarini is an artist and lecturer in Sculpture at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan; she explores the relationship between environment and landscape through a variety of artistic practices. Her focus on and study of botanical elements are explored through sculpture, photography and drawing. She has exhibited her work in national and international contexts, including: the Rome Quadriennale, the Civic Museum of Castelbuono in Palermo, the Museo della Permanente in Milan, the Academy of San Luca in Rome, the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation in Venice, the Cà Pesaro International Gallery in Venice, the Civic Gallery of Modena, the Braidense Library in Milan, the Suzzara Prize in Mantua, the GAM Verona Palazzo Forti, the GAM Verona Palazzo della Ragione, the Artericambi Gallery in Verona, the Cicognani Galerie Kohl, Cavenaghi Arte in Milan, Adiacenze in Bologna, and Careof in Milan. Co-founder of fuoriregistro and Boîte edizioni.
 

Maria Rosa Sossai is a curator and researcher specialising in participatory practices that involve the public. She curates projects related to local policies in the fields of education and the protection of the environment, ecosystems and biodiversity. She is the scientific director of the Department of Participatory Projects at the Civic Museum of Castelbuono (PA). She curated the project *Ecosistemi Connessi. Museum and Post-Varietal Communities by the artistic duo Aterraterra, winner of PAC2024, at the Civic Museum of Castelbuono. She has curated exhibitions and projects in museums, foundations and galleries in Italy and abroad. She is the author of numerous publications, including Anna and Giorgio Fasol. A Life as Collectors, Dario Cimorelli Editore, Milan, 2024; Experiencing Art Together as an Educational Activity, Torri del Vento, Palermo; and Artist Films, Pathways and Comparisons between Art and Cinema, Silvana Editoriale, 2009.