IRIS is an international collaborative project supporting the sustainable use and development of rural landscapes incorporating all four pillars of sustainability – cultural, social, economic and environmental.

Marginal and forgotten upland territories are the heart of this exhibition. For millennia, these territories have been cradles of cultures and economies which developed intensely and in strong balance with the nature they depended on, and many are still nowadays resisting in spite of impending menaces such as depopulation, abandonment, the loss of traditional skills, and land-use change driven by the climate emergency, detrimental planning decisions and global economic trends. They persist now thanks to the enduring of local communities, benefitting society at large through their cultures and know-how, constituting a powerful example for the future.