Residencies

Resident artists Aurelio Di Virgilio, Polina Fenko, Miranda Secondari
Satellite artists Anna Basti, Barb Bordoni, Teodora Grano, Marta Sponzilli
Guests Julian Barnett, Bojana Kunst, Martina Ruhsam
Artists curators Francesco Dalmasso, Elisa D’Amico, Ambra Pittoni

Making room for critical thinking is the program of Workspace Ricerca X for 2023, which takes shape through two research residencies and some public events, with the support of Lavanderia a Vapore / Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo.

With making room for critical thinking, Workspace Ricerca X expresses the desire to expand and further articulate the environment it creates with new tools, facilitating the collective exercising of critical thinking as a discursive practice within the frame of artistic research.
A critical and reflexive approach to research practices, materials and their discursive articulations, able to reverberate on different scales, starting from the practices of individual artists, all the way to the discourse of the community gathering around research. This implies questioning how the thoughts generated in this complex environment fall out of the context of Ricerca X.
How can we be comfortable in a difficult posture?
How much responsibility, sensitivity and fantasy are at stake while we generate critical thinking?

ph_Andrea Macchia, graphic_Luca Bogoni

ph. Ilaria Costanzo, festival Contemporanea, Prato 2022

project ideation and curation Sineglossa
with Valerie Tameu
within FOOD DATA DIGESTION
in collaboration with Play with Food, Free University of Bozen and Lavanderia a Vapore
supported by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo
within the fund call ART-WAVES
creative developer Michele Cremaschi
contribution to costumes Augusta Tibaldeschi
contribution to music Michele Mandrelli
marine biology consultant Agnese Riccardi
dramaturg Federica Patti

“What is less than human and what I would like to consider more than human is not a passive and unconscious object, but applies active and real forms of resistance.” (Valerie Tameu)

Metabolo creates an ecosystem of mutual influence between the human body, artificial machines, and marine ecosystems, in a relationship of multispecies coexistence. With Metabolo, the artist questions the possibility of using technology to promote other forms of intelligence and culture, not only those that are Western or anthropocentric, through the selection of datasets created by certain fish species and the reinterpretation of indigenous practices. This relationship is made explicit in the first place through the connection between artificial intelligence and one of the marine ecosystems on our planet, the one that is located below the Frying Pan Tower, 34 miles off the coast of Cape Fear, NorthCarolina.

There an underwater webcam placed by volunteers for research purposes streams live images on YouTube and is freely accessible. Unlike most other underwater webcams on the same online platform, this webcam does not show animals held in captivity, but in their natural habitat. The artificial intelligence connected to this robotic eye processes the texture and unique movements of Cape Fear’s oceanic world through machine learning and translates them into data that modify the soundtrack on which the artist creates the performance, in Europe, in real time. This human, machine and more-than-human interaction becomes the starting point for the creative elaboration of the performance.

This relationship also includes the spiritual world, represented by the myth of MamiWata, an aquatic deity worshipped in several West and Equatorial African countries, who is half human and half fish, a hybrid and an alien being at the sametime. The artist draws inspiration from this Goddess to create a techno-spiritual ritual, once again learned by artificial intelligence through motion-tracking software on the scene. Like a deity, the manifestation of such a ritual is meant to be symbolically an unexpected appearance, which is translated into a visual created in real time and sent to an online platform that is only available when the performance is happening. The same visual will be projected at the performance site.

di Collectif Hinterland (FR)
nell’ambito di ÉTAPE DANSE, un progetto di cooperazione Francia – Germania – Italia a sostegno di nuove creazioni coreografiche in collaborazione con Mosaico Danza / Festival Interplay

FAIRE FLEURIR riunisce un ballerino, due musicisti, un mucchio di pietre e un ricco ambiente di luci e ombre, sotto un velo che definisce i limiti di uno spazio sorprendentemente teso. Il tessuto che funziona come un soffitto molto basso. Seduto tutt’intorno a questa grotta senza pareti, il pubblico assiste a un’inclinazione forzata verso il suolo. Tutto qui avviene a un livello che impedisce all’essere umano di alzarsi in piedi. In questo rifugio sotterraneo, in questo luogo appartato e segreto, alcune persone si riuniscono e imparano a gattonare.

a project by Lavanderia a Vapore
in collaboration with EDN and Al.Di.Qua. Artists

Our body is not the problem, nor our physical, motor, sensory, neurological, cognitive abilities. We can no longer accept that our bodies, our histories, our changing identities are reported and flattened under a single convenient medical-scientific term. We are not talking about disabilities, but about Disabling Experiences imposed by a society built on a model that only benefits the western, male, white, able, healthy, cisgender and straight human being. (Al.Di.Qua. Artists, Manifesto)

Lavanderia a Vapore is hosting a 4-day exchange of artistic practices, led by disabled artists collective Al.Di.Qua in Collegno (Turin), Italy, from 22 to 25 May 2023. Artists, choreographers and other dance professionals are invited to join a 4-day collective and collaborative exploration of disabling conditions and systemic barriers set by prevailing ableism in contemporary dance. The EDN Carte Blanche Artist Exchange is mediated and facilitated by disabled artists collective Al.Di.Qua and hosted by Lavanderia a Vapore in Collegno (Turin), Italy, from 22 to 25 May 2023. Inspired by Al.Di.Qua’s manifesto, the participants are invited to open a space of possibilities and sow new visions, expand the imaginary relating to disability, grow new skills and raise awareness to generate structural changes and promote greater leadership by people with disabilities and a greater equity for all.

PROGRAMME

May 22nd
3.00 pm – 3.30 pm: check in
3.30 pm  – 6.00 pm: Access agreement. The need as a meeting space curated by Eugenia Coscarella (community dramaturg, researcher in body and writing practice) and Kadri Sirel (artistic researcher in performance documentation)/Lavanderia a Vapore, in conversation with Stefania Di Paolo (researcher, curator, disability advocate, founder TalkwithDance)

What do I need to be comfortable here? Through physical and writing practices, the workshop unfolds the theme of need as a place where to meet ourselves and others. Listening, silence, looking, dialogue in an intimate and collective space will be tools to let our needs emerge and position in the space: we are going to formulate a group access agreement that can accompany us during Carte Blanche.

6.00 pm – 6.30 pm: check out moderated by Diana Anselmo (performer and activist)

May 23rd
10.00 am – 10.30 am: check in
10.30 am – 1.00 pm: Eyes and hands by Daniel Bongioanni (deaf artist and Italian Sign Language teacher) and Nikita Lymar (performer)

Through visual perception, the workshop allows a reflection on the use of the eyes, facial expressions and hands. This will increase our awareness of the many possibilities of expression in many areas: from everyday life, to sign language, art, theatre and much more.

10.30 am – 1.00 pm: Times, spaces, communication: accessibility is a journey with Elia Zeno Covolan (transmasc non-binary, neurodivergent visual designer and illustrator with chronic illness and disability)

This workshop explores the importance of accessibility in cultural venues such as festivals, theatre performances and other events. In particular, it focuses on the relationship between accessibility, times, spaces and communication and how these factors can affect the ability of neurodivergent people with chronic illnesses and/or disabilities to fully participate in cultural experiences.

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Lunch break
3:00 pm – 6:00 pm: practice sharing on tasks
6:00 pm – 6:30 pm: check out moderated by Diana Anselmo (performer and activist)

May 24th
10.00 am – 10.30 am: check in 
10.30 am – 1.00 pm: Multiply perception by Marta Olivieri (author and performer)

The workshop shares the encounter between the performance work curated by Marta Olivieri and the audio-description practices created by Camilla Guarino and Giuseppe Comuniello. The collaboration between the three authors generated an interest in the multiplication of perception. Within the workshop, they will bring a practical introduction of the work done during the residence for the creation of Trespass_ Tales of the Unexpected.  

10.30 am – 1.00 pm: Eyes and hands by Daniel Bongioanni (deaf artist and Italian Sign Language teacher) and Nikita Lymar (performer)

Through visual perception, the workshop allows a reflection on the use of the eyes, facial expressions and hands. This will increase our awareness of the many possibilities of expression in many areas: from everyday life, to sign language, art, theatre and much more.  

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Lunch break
3:00 pm – 6:00 pm: practice sharing on tasks 
6:00 pm – 6:30 pm: check out moderated by Flavia Dalila D’Amico (performing arts curator, video maker and editor)

May 25th
10.00 am – 10.30 am: check in
10.30 am – 1.00 pm: Multiply perception by Marta Olivieri (author and performer)

The workshop shares the encounter between the performance work curated by Marta Olivieri and the audio-description practices created by Camilla Guarino and Giuseppe Comuniello. The collaboration between the three authors has generated an interest in the multiplication of perception. Within the workshop they will bring a practical introduction of the work done during the residency for the creation of Trespass_ Tales of the Unexpected.

10.30 am – 1.00 pm: Times, spaces, communication: accessibility is a journey with Elia Zeno Covolan (transmasc non-binary, neurodivergent visual designer and illustrator with chronic illness and disability)

This workshop explore the importance of accessibility in cultural venues such as festivals, theatre performances and other events. In particular, it focuses on the relationship between accessibility, times, spaces and communication and how these factors can affect the ability of neurodivergent people with chronic illnesses and/or disabilities to fully participate in cultural experiences.

1.00 pm – 3:00 pm: Lunch break
3:00 pm – 6:00 pm: practice sharing on tasks
6:00 pm – 6:30 pm: check out moderated by Flavia Dalila D’Amico (performing arts curator, video maker and editor)

project ideation and curation Sineglossa
with Valerie Tameu
within FOOD DATA DIGESTION
in collaboration with Play with Food, Free University of Bozen and Lavanderia a Vapore
supported by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo
within the fund call ART-WAVES
creative developer Michele Cremaschi
contribution to costumes Augusta Tibaldeschi
contribution to music Michele Mandrelli
marine biology consultant Agnese Riccardi
dramaturg Federica Patti

“What is less than human and what I would like to consider more than human is not a passive and unconscious object, but applies active and real forms of resistance.” (Valerie Tameu)

Metabolo creates an ecosystem of mutual influence between the human body, artificial machines, and marine ecosystems, in a relationship of multispecies coexistence. With Metabolo, the artist questions the possibility of using technology to promote other forms of intelligence and culture, not only those that are Western or anthropocentric, through the selection of datasets created by certain fish species and the reinterpretation of indigenous practices. This relationship is made explicit in the first place through the connection between artificial intelligence and one of the marine ecosystems on our planet, the one that is located below the Frying Pan Tower, 34 miles off the coast of Cape Fear, NorthCarolina.

There an underwater webcam placed by volunteers for research purposes streams live images on YouTube and is freely accessible. Unlike most other underwater webcams on the same online platform, this webcam does not show animals held in captivity, but in their natural habitat. The artificial intelligence connected to this robotic eye processes the texture and unique movements of Cape Fear’s oceanic world through machine learning and translates them into data that modify the soundtrack on which the artist creates the performance, in Europe, in real time. This human, machine and more-than-human interaction becomes the starting point for the creative elaboration of the performance.

This relationship also includes the spiritual world, represented by the myth of MamiWata, an aquatic deity worshipped in several West and Equatorial African countries, who is half human and half fish, a hybrid and an alien being at the sametime. The artist draws inspiration from this Goddess to create a techno-spiritual ritual, once again learned by artificial intelligence through motion-tracking software on the scene. Like a deity, the manifestation of such a ritual is meant to be symbolically an unexpected appearance, which is translated into a visual created in real time and sent to an online platform that is only available when the performance is happening. The same visual will be projected at the performance site.

concept, choreography and voices Panzetti / Ticconi
performers Sissj Bassani, Efthimios Moschopoulos, Aleksandra Petrushevska, Julia Plawgo
music composition Demetrio Castellucci
music and voice Gavino Murgia
light design Annegret Schalke
costume design Werkstattkollektiv
dramaturgical support in the frame of JUMP network Piersandra Di Matteo
psychoanalytic theoretical insight Daniela Frau
technical direction on tour Michele Piazzi, Annegret Schalke
manager, distribution Aurélie Martin
Italian administration Federica Giuliano (VAN)
German production management Sofia Fantuzzi
logistic Eleonora Cavallo (VAN – Panzetti/Ticconi GbR)
production Panzetti / Ticconi GbR (DE); Associazione Culturale VAN (IT)
funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe (DE)
coproduction Tanz im August / HAU Hebbel am Ufer (DE) // JUMP network (formed by Oriente Occidente, Festival MILANoLTRE, I Teatri di Reggio Emilia, Lavanderia a Vapore/Piemonte dal Vivo, Marche Teatro/Inteatro Festival, Orbita, Scenario Pubblico / Centro di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale, Teatro Comunale di Vicenza, Teatro Stabile dell’Umbria) (IT) // Torinodanza (IT) // Julidans Amsterdam (NL) // Pact Zollverein (DE) // Le Manège, scène-nationale – Reims (FR) // Le Pacifique – CDCN Grenoble Auvergne Rhône-Alpes (FR) // network Les Petites Scènes Ouvertes with the sponsorship of Caisse des dépôts (FR) // Centre Chorégraphique National de Nantes within the framework of Accueil Studio (FR) // CCNR / YUVAL PICK within the framework of Accueil Studio (FR) // Fuori Margine Centro di Produzione di Danza e Arti Performative della Sardegna (IT)
artistic residency program Centre Chorégraphique National de Nantes (FR) // Lavanderia a Vapore/Piemonte dal Vivo (IT) // Kinosaki International Arts Center (Toyooka city) (JP) // TEN Teatro Eliseo Nuoro (IT) // Le Pacifique – CDCN Grenoble Auvergne Rhône-Alpes (FR) in partnership with CCNR / YUVAL PICK (FR) // Chorège – CDCN Falaise Normandie (FR) // Scenario Pubblico / Centro di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (IT) // Le Manège, scène-nationale – Reims (FR)

Residency in preparation of the new choreographic creation by Panzetti/Ticconi (panzettiticconi.com); the duo – based in Italy and in Germany – has recruited 4 professional contemporary dancers and performers (m/f/d) for INSEL, which will premiere at Tanz Im August (Berlin) and then at Torinodanza Festival (click here).

The physical impact of being castaway on a desert island and the fall into the depths of one’s own interiority are, in INSEL, equivalent collisions. INSEL, the German word for island, is a choreographic and sound creation for 4 performers which chooses a geographical condition as a symbolic reference to turn the gaze towards the individual and into the inevitable encounter with one’s own shadow. Two figures, guarded by their shadows, find in the monologue their only means for an expressive channel. Pleased by their own suffering tones, they do not contemplate the presence of the other. They plunge into the darkness of their own being, staging the drama of their narcissism. The shadows extend like majestic darkness and voice, an ancient, profound voice which with telluric vibrations undermines any kind of egoic protagonism and leaves space, amidst the shaken and shattered ground, for the possible emergence of a community. The lament, from being a solitary and narcissistic expression of an individual, is structured into cadenced, collective gestures. Mourners lead the ritual, while the voice of the island accompanies and soothes. The voice of Gavino Murgia is inspired by the traditional Cantu a Tenore technique originating on the island of Sardinia.

choreography Daniele Ninarello
assistent to the choreography Elena Giannotti
dramaturg Gaia Clotilde Chernetich
production Codeduomo
with the support of MosaicoDanza
and CSC Centro per la Scena Contemporanea

Starting from the “silent protests” thought and created during the lockdown period, the idea of a new group piece wasborn, dedicated to the collective process of protest and liberation, in which the performers abandon themselves to aspace that they mutually construct in which it is possible to expose their vulnerable bodies. In this space the bodiesproceed together through a dance that comes from a real process of stream of consciousness, progressively releasing thetensions that have accumulated over time, to give movement and voice to postponed revolutions. The time we are goingthrough requires a reflection on the sense of care, participation, listening, cooperation and healing. Bodies undergocontinuous dictation from the outside, they are territories colonized by the culture of control, violence and offense. Ourvulnerability has been forced not to express itself, not to be observed, celebrated.

choreography Daniele Ninarello
assistent to the choreography Elena Giannotti
dramaturg Gaia Clotilde Chernetich
production Codeduomo
with the support of MosaicoDanza
and CSC Centro per la Scena Contemporanea

Starting from the “silent protests” thought and created during the lockdown period, the idea of a new group piece wasborn, dedicated to the collective process of protest and liberation, in which the performers abandon themselves to aspace that they mutually construct in which it is possible to expose their vulnerable bodies. In this space the bodiesproceed together through a dance that comes from a real process of stream of consciousness, progressively releasing thetensions that have accumulated over time, to give movement and voice to postponed revolutions. The time we are goingthrough requires a reflection on the sense of care, participation, listening, cooperation and healing. Bodies undergocontinuous dictation from the outside, they are territories colonized by the culture of control, violence and offense. Ourvulnerability has been forced not to express itself, not to be observed, celebrated.

with Industria Indipendente, Silvia Calderoni, Yva
sound production in collaboration with Steve Pepe
light design in collaboration with Luca Brinchi

Industria Indipendente research is rooted in language: an expanded writing that inscribes itself on bodies, environments, surfaces; it becomes action and performativity; it liquefies and expands into sound, voice and light; that opens, contaminates, blurs the boundaries between you and me, self and world, us and others, here and elsewhere. Their new project – La Mano Sinistra (“The Left Hand”) – uses magic as a prism to “rewrite and manipulate the symbolic order: space of relationship and equality between human beings and the world”. Here writing becomes formula, poetry, spell, allusion, invocation and evocation, in tension with the de-hierarchization of the relationships between body and matter, knowledge and action, subject and environment, sound and luminous physical appearance. In Lavanderia a Vapore, together with Silvia Calderoni and Yva, they inscribe an environmental soundscape, which can be traversed and inhabited, in the form of a happening, open to the other*, in a “chaosmotic space – a place of possibilities and polyrhythmic and polyphonic resonances”.

Disabled Leadership and Dance Talent Development in Italy and UK 
by OrienteOccidente and Stopgap Dance Company
supported by British Council
within the framework of International Collaboration Grant

by Giorgia Ohanesian Nardin
with Giorgia Ohanesian Nardin
sound F. De Isabella
costume design Max Simonetto | naturaviolenta
ph. credits Tiziano Demuro

Giorgia Ohanesian Nardin is an artist, independent researcher and queer agitator of Armenian descent. Their research is built of a collection of pedagogic and performative events that focus on experiencing pleasure as a form of resistance to systemic oppression by relating a queer/transfeminist approach to somatic practices. Trained in dance, their work exists is the shape of movement/video/text/choreography/sound/gatherings and deals with narratives of hostility, survival strategies, rest, friction, sensuality, healing.