On June 20 of 1995, in Cagliari, the “Comitato Promotore Consortium Well Being Progetto Sardinia” was legally established at the Well Being Interdepartimental Centre of the University of Cagliari by: Giovanni Lilliu (chairperson of the Scientific Committee), Sandro Dernini (chairperson of the Committee ),Franco Meloni (coordinator of the Well Being Interdepartmental Centre), Salvatore Naitza, Guido Pappalardo, Walter Porcedda, Pietro Zambelli, Paola Atzeni, Marinella Ferrai Cocco Ortu and Giulio Concas. The purpose was to launch from Sardinia an international contemporary cultural project to advance the well being concept as a new paradigm for the being based on the notion of participation and interaction that, by underlining the rediscovery of the own identity's value, should reinforce the relationship between culture and nature to enahnce the quality of life in the XXI Century, within a global vision of problems and interdependecies. The Well Being Sardinia Project intended to promote the relationship among art, science and technology to promote a multicultural and interdisciplinary definition of the “ well being” concept, within the context of peace and reconciliation among all people to defend human rights and minorities. On September 20, in the port of Cagliari, within the Italian official celebrations for the Marconi 100 years radio discovery, the Navigating Global Cultures Well Being Sardinia Project was presented with a press conference held on board the Elisabeth boat by Giovanni Lilliu, Francesco Corongiu, Salvatore Naitza, Sandro Dernini, Guido Pegna, Alberto Soi, Carlo Dernini and a representative of the Italian Navy. The day after, on board the Elisabeth, Guido Pegna made an experimental transmission of a radio signal, through a historical reproduction of a 1885 Marconi’s telegraph, from the Elisabeth boat to an Italian navy warship outside the harbour of Cagliari, to launch on the air the following Marconi 1995 Open Call for the Well Being in the XXI Century:
We are a single, interdependent, world-wide specie. Whether we like it or not, we are intimately bound up with each other around Earth. East and West, North and South, our fate is linked together. Thus a global view of human health is more essential now then even before.
After, the Elisabeth boat departed for an experimental circumnavigation of the island of Sardinia. on board of the Elisabeth, it was placed The Ark of the Well Being, a multimedia communication art installation with a computer for "face to face" experimental exchanges through the Cu-SeeMe program. All information and data collected on board the Elisabeth by the Ark of the Well Being during the circumnavigation were supposed to be transmitted via internet to the New York University and published in the Well Being News, an online monthly journal under construction by the Interdepartmental Well Being Centre of the University of Cagliari. During the first part of the circumnavigation from Cagliari to Villasimius, Piero Cianflone performed the immersion of his floating artwork The Memory of the Five Continents, an installation made by 5 long 50 metres plastic ropes, filled each one of a different colour, symbolizing the globe’s continents and their ancient separation, to be carried by Elisabeth during his navigation. The day after, on board the Elisabeth boat, in the Island of Cavoli, in the south-east of Sardinia, it was organized by the CIRCAM Centre the presentation of the Villasimius Sea Park to protect the natural sea resources of that area. Through the navigation, ancient way of communication between peoples and cultures, Well Being Sardinia Project had the aim to promote a contemporary rethinking on the communication systems and the well being issues by proposing the water as symbolic element of linking between different cultural identities. During the circumnavigation, it was planned to place on specific sea water sites, identified with precise exactitude through a satellite global position system (GPS), some Plexus Black Box capsules, oriented towards the Hot Bird 1 satellite by Eutelsat, transmitting European public news. These capsules, created by Alberto Soi, all together constituted a symbolic packaging of Sardinia as a modern icon of communication and memory of its ancient Nuraghic network of prehistoric communication, following an idea of Paola Bitti. The Plexus Black Box capsules that were supposed during the circumnavigation to be placed in 13 sites, identified by Stefano Asili and Giannina Sanna on a “geotraversa sarda” g.a.s., all around the island of Sardinia, and connected artistically among them and with the S. Cristina Well, in the centre of the Sardinia Island. There, at the S. Cristina Well, Sandro Dernini performed the marketing packaging of Sardinia cultural heritage into a Plexus Campboll's soup can carried on board of a Nuraghic ark. Then few days after, in Caglairi, this Nuraghic ark was placed by Alberto Soi and Stefano Asili on top of a soft drink bottle with a label on which it was written: Drink Art-Drin Kart Arca Nuragica Puro Spirito Sardo. At the same time, Dean Francesco Corongiu stopped the circumnavigation of the Elisabeth because of lack of funds asking Carlo Dernini, the captain, to return to Cagliari.
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