Arte Studio Ginestrelle Residency, Assisi, Italy - Appartengono: A Sense of Belonging - 2011
Assisi and the Regional Park of Mt. Subasio, are sacred places, destinations for pilgrims who interact with those whose roots are deeply planted within the local soil. There is a rich history, a legacy of place that is not present in the adolescent culture of America where we come from – a connection/disconnection of place, self and community. As outsiders we are privileged by the generosity of insiders - collaborator/performers from the small village of Costa di Trex who share their stories of place through text, movement and sound. Together we created a work to be performed at Arte Studio Ginestrelle that evokes the spirit of Mt. Subasio and the people of Costa di Trex.
Paul and I were artists in residence, May 18 through June 7, 2011, at Arte Studio Ginestrelle in the Regional Park of Mt. Subasio in Assisi, Italy to set a performance work on community members of this area. To facilitate the work, Dr. Marina Merli, Director of Arte Studio Ginestrelle, arranged a collaboration with the cultural association of Pro Loco Costa di Trex in the small medieval town of
Costa di Trex, 6 km from Assisi. As originally proposed, we worked in collaboration with a group of 5-10 performers of varying ages utilizing material from their own writing to create an original physical theatre piece about connection to place, self and community through movement and text, and created a video, photo and sound exhibition of digital photography, video and DAT recordings of the process and culminating work.
This project was graciously humbling, balanced by a healthy dose of creative problem solving, completely unexpected joys of human generosity and the incredible beauty of the area of Mt. Subasio. In Umbria, the month of May is dedicated to the celebration of the Virgin Mary. We were immersed in the sacred and the secular as we followed local religious services and community festivals from church to church of the local region. The town of Assisi, peacefully towering in its sacred stature, did not overshadow the sublime nuance of this removed area of rolling hills, orchards and winding roads. Arte Studio Ginestrelle is tucked among the hills of Mt. Subasio and in May, the hillsides are covered in the flowering yellow of Ginestra, “broom” as we know it in the United States. Typical of the houses of this area, Arte Studio Ginestrelle is built of locally quarried stone brick that stays cool throughout the heat of the day. Marina, owner of Ginestrelle, has a Spartan aesthetic and cherishes the preservation of aged and decay. For the artist, there is a sense of tabula rasa, a blank slate with which to work with, but one cannot help but be inspired by the wisdom of the rustic ambience that permeates Ginestrelle and the confluence of international artists sharing breakfast together while graced with Umbrian hospitality. Language communication was sometimes a clumsy exchange of facial expressions, gestures, movement, phonetic blunders and mouth sounds. Armed with dictionaries, a sense of humor and a mutual willingness to be understood, we trudged. It was exhausting and exhilarating; an incredible experience.- JG
Paul and I were artists in residence, May 18 through June 7, 2011, at Arte Studio Ginestrelle in the Regional Park of Mt. Subasio in Assisi, Italy to set a performance work on community members of this area. To facilitate the work, Dr. Marina Merli, Director of Arte Studio Ginestrelle, arranged a collaboration with the cultural association of Pro Loco Costa di Trex in the small medieval town of
Costa di Trex, 6 km from Assisi. As originally proposed, we worked in collaboration with a group of 5-10 performers of varying ages utilizing material from their own writing to create an original physical theatre piece about connection to place, self and community through movement and text, and created a video, photo and sound exhibition of digital photography, video and DAT recordings of the process and culminating work.
This project was graciously humbling, balanced by a healthy dose of creative problem solving, completely unexpected joys of human generosity and the incredible beauty of the area of Mt. Subasio. In Umbria, the month of May is dedicated to the celebration of the Virgin Mary. We were immersed in the sacred and the secular as we followed local religious services and community festivals from church to church of the local region. The town of Assisi, peacefully towering in its sacred stature, did not overshadow the sublime nuance of this removed area of rolling hills, orchards and winding roads. Arte Studio Ginestrelle is tucked among the hills of Mt. Subasio and in May, the hillsides are covered in the flowering yellow of Ginestra, “broom” as we know it in the United States. Typical of the houses of this area, Arte Studio Ginestrelle is built of locally quarried stone brick that stays cool throughout the heat of the day. Marina, owner of Ginestrelle, has a Spartan aesthetic and cherishes the preservation of aged and decay. For the artist, there is a sense of tabula rasa, a blank slate with which to work with, but one cannot help but be inspired by the wisdom of the rustic ambience that permeates Ginestrelle and the confluence of international artists sharing breakfast together while graced with Umbrian hospitality. Language communication was sometimes a clumsy exchange of facial expressions, gestures, movement, phonetic blunders and mouth sounds. Armed with dictionaries, a sense of humor and a mutual willingness to be understood, we trudged. It was exhausting and exhilarating; an incredible experience.- JG
This residency culminated in two major videos that received public exhibitions both at Arte Studio Ginestrelle and at the Gallerie le Logge. Apartengono (A Sense of Belonging) consisted of videos of two physical theatre works created with residents of the tiny village of Costa di Trex, a stop-motion video playing with objects found around Ginestrelle, a photo montage of the morning ritual of the artists' breakfast and a montage of the area. Altars, inspired by local Marian rituals throughout the month of May, documents the creation and erosion of "altars" made from found objects around the grounds of Ginestrelle. Research conducted during the residency was utilized for the creation of The Rule of Life, inspired by Sts. Francis and Clare of Assisi.
