Lettomanoppello 2021-2022 “10 Days in Stone”.
The artistic direction asked me to mediate the presence of eight sculptors in the town square, who for ten days carved local stone to create monuments to be installed in the town itself (2000 citizens). The initial idea was to create a participatory neo-procession, animating the square for the duration of the symposium.
Lettomanoppello is located in a mining and quarrying area, but highly seismic, with destructive earthquakes occurring in the last 30 years. Therefore a double nature of resource and submission of the community to the mountain.
Among the various local representations of ancient cults there was one about San Michele who protected a spring by placing his foot on the head of a dragon. I chose this grammar shared with the community and I themed this for a whole week, talking with the patrons, getting invited to their homes, bars, local schools and all the places frequented by the community.
I created a station in the square as if I was a sculptor and created a costume made by stone collecting the waste splinters of the other guest artists.
I invited all the children of the village to build small houses on the streets with the same stone chips.
I warned all the adults that I would dress up as a dragon on the last night and go destroy the houses created by children, but if they used water against me I would give up. that if they used a lot of water against me I would give up.
I warned all the adults that, on the last night, I would dress up as a dragon and go around the city destroying all the little houses created by the children. The only way to make me stop and give up was to use water against me.
At night I dressed up as a "stone dragon" and, with the collaboration of the guest sculptors who led me around the town, I began to destroy the small buildings made by the children who, however, soon took courage and started throwing buckets of water at me more and more vigorously. Until we arrived in the central square where the largest stone chip tower had been built and where, during the two hours of procession, all the children of the community had instinctively gathered, I could not get closer, such was the force with which they threw the water at me. Finally, some adults of the town, frightened by a violence that was slowly mounting the children against the figure of the dragon, stopped them. At that moment the sculptors intervened (scene previously prepared) who freed the actor from the stone armor with their hammers.
Here, those are my works. They are not designed before arriving in the host community and seek a balance of preparation and improvisation (stimulated by constant theming during the pre-performance) and are played through an extremely popular and understandable language.
