BioArtBlitz is a novel concept of citizen science events developed within GuardIAS, which transforms classical field activities of Bioblitz with performing arts, to actively engage citizens in an emotional and imaginative way, also touching on controversial aspects, such as eradication actions.
In the first year of project, different activities were launched in parallel, involving researchers of Pavia University from different fields (ecology and humanities), who worked at designing and testing some performing arts formats of Citizen Science. All activities were organized and carried out in the city of Pavia (Lombardy Region, Italy) and neighbouring areas, in collaboration with professional artists, students of theatre schools and students of an academic Master on Performance and Social Theatre. The process began in March 2025, with the first site visits along the Ticino river and walking interviews with ecologists, humanists, artists and citizens, to gather materials that could help us create artistic events with a site-specific approach.
Then, ecologist and humanists/artists started developing and testing some citizen science approaches separately. Between April and June, several simple BioBlitz were carried out by GuardIAS ecologists, targeting the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii (one of the case-study species of GuardIAS WP4). Citizens were asked to contribute to remove alien crayfish from wetlands using baited traps and observing their reactions to this direct interaction with an animal IAS.
In parallel, GuardIAS humanists worked with ‘Calypso’, a local association that uses performing arts to promote citizens participation in local issues of social/environmental relevance, at the format of ‘sensorial walk’. A pilot event, tested at the end of June 2025 and entitled “In Corso d’acqua. Esperienza collettiva lungo il fiume” / “In the water course. Collective experience along the river”, was organised as final workshop of a theatre course
held at Pavia civic theatre.
Between June and July 2025, 21 students from the Master in Performance and Social Theatre of the University of Pavia began to get involved: they received an online training on IAS from GuardIAS scientists, and started to develop their own projects. A walking interview along the river was organized with them. Students were then organised in four groups, each still currently working at an original project; their work is ongoing and we expect four performance activities to take place in spring 2026 along the river and in the city of Pavia, actively involving citizens of different age groups (from elementary school children to University students, families and the local Rowing Club).
The first full GuardIAS ‘BioArtBlitz’ events were carried out starting from September 2025.
At first, we tested the format: “Guardiani del fiume” / “Guardians of the river”, an eco- artistic walk along the river organized with Calypso. 20 citizens took part in the walk, which continuously switched between scientific explanations and theatrical games that physically engaged the participants. Citizens were provided with paper frames to focus on what most attracted them about the environment and represented with their bodies an environment rich in biodiversity that gradually deteriorates, using the tableau vivant technique. Finally, they were lead to a wetland where they experienced crayfish trapping techniques. Pre-post activity questionnaires were used to assess the participants’ level of engagement and understanding.
Also in September 2025, GuardIAS BioArtBlitz were included in the program of two “European Researchers’ Night” events, in Vigevano and Pavia. At both events, we offered an activity targeted for children and families, that was a cross between a game and theatre. In Vigevano, children coloured and cut out silhouettes of alien crayfish and crabs. Then, they were encouraged to create a biological invasion by deploying the paper silhouettes throughout the exhibition space, followed by a ‘treasure hunt’ (eradication action) in which all silhouettes were removed and captured with real crayfish traps. In Pavia, instead, the silhouettes had been already prepared and citizens only scattered them around a courtyard. The children watched a short theatrical scene between a social theatre operator and an ecologist and then began the treasure hunt. In both cases, participants were finally invited to subsequently enrol to a ‘real’ crayfish capture activity (bioblitz), which took place a few days afterwards.
We experimented with university students and citizens with two other formats of performance art on the issue of IAS which are still under investigation: philosophical walk and theatre lesson-workshop. In the fall of 2025, we organized “Eco passeggiata filosofica. Una passeggiata nella natura all’insegna del Pensiero riflessivo contro il piattume contemporaneo” / “Eco philosophical walk. A walk in nature dedicated to reflective thinking
against contemporary dullness”, a philosophical walk through the river ecosystem of Ticino with Matteo Canevari, anthropologist and performer, to reflect on biodiversity, alien species and the relationship between humans and nature. In November 2025, a social theatre artist and an ecologist held a theatre lesson-workshop on biodiversity and IAS with students from the Environmental Education course at the University of Pavia.
Work is continuing in 2026 to develop and test BioArtBlitz formats, to study the existing interdisciplinary scientific literature, and to expand the stakeholder networks to new societal categories.
