LaRete Art Projects

Francesca Grilli

Francesca Grilli. The Forgetting of Air

with Tariq Alsaadi, Meryem Lakhouite, Beate Lechler,
Francesca Marcus, Hiltrud Schäfer, Monika Witte

curated by Julia Draganović and Claudia Löffelholz, LaRete Art Projects

Kunsthalle Osnabrück | Hasemauer 1, 49074 Osnabrück, Germany 
November 7th, 2017 / 4 - 5 pm

in the framework of CAPP Collaborative Arts Partnership Programme’s Staging Post “Back to Babel” at Kunsthalle Osnabrück.
With the support of Creative Europe and Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst.

November 7th, 4 – 5 pm Kunsthalle Osnabrück will present the group performance “The Forgetting of Air” by Francesca Grilli. We are delighted to present the German premier of the internationally renowned Italian artist! Grilli works multidisciplinary with sound, photography, video but most of all with performances, which are created with musicians and a variety of people of the most diverse educational background and of different origins. In most cases, Grilli’s work researches the conditions of people who live on the margins of society. Her performances create spaces for experience in which core situations of human existence can be practiced for a short period in a highlighted way. 

Breath is a flow between life and death. Breathing marks a temporal passage. Breathing is the first autonomous action that infuses life to an individual, while the end of breathing is the definitive sign of our disappearance. 
"The Forgetting of Air" is a performance that grounds the idea of air as territory of exchange, for reflection on the migration processes. The material shared is air itself which can generates proximity and distance at the same time. The performers act in the same space of the audience who is invited to define the time of their stay, deciding how and for how long being part to this passage of time that brings together words, gestures, actions and thoughts.

Francesca Grilli (Bologna, Italy, 1978), presented her works in multiple exhibitions, including Family at the Van Abbemuseum (NL) and Viceversa, Italian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale. She has also participated in various international performance festivals: Homo Novus (LT), Buda (BE), Roma Europa, UOVO, Santarcangelo Festival (IT), Tupp Festival (SW), Rencontres Choregraphiques (FR). In 2016, she received the New York Prize.

Since 2014 Kunsthalle Osnabrück is part of the CAPP Collaborative Arts Partnership Programme, a network of nine European partners that includes Agora (Berlin), Create Ireland (Dublin), Hablar en Arte (Madrid), Heart of Glass (St. Helens, UK), Live Art Development Agency (London), Ludwig Museum (Budapest), M-Cult (Helsinki) and Tate Liverpool. Since March 2017 CAPP started to organize public events during their partner meetings, to introduce the innovative artistic practices which are at the heart of CAPP’s research, to wider local audiences. Kunsthalle Osnabrück will present the third Staging Post of this series with the title “Back to Babel” on November 7th, 2017.

“Back to Babel” will focus on challenges and adventures related to the question of communication and language in collaborative practice. In the field of collaborative arts practices, where the relational is key, establishing understandings through a common verbal language is not a given. Communication requires ongoing attention and due diligence as well as empathy, patience, personal endurance and courage. In Trans-European projects such as CAPP, but also as a result of global mass-migratory movements, and increasingly in everyday situations, communication and language are critical questions.

Francesca Grilli. The Forgetting of Air
with Tariq Alsaadi, Meryem Lakhouite, Beate Lechler, Francesca Marcus, Hiltrud Schäfer, Monika Witte
set design Valeria Foti 
voice training Alessandra Bordiga
tecnical support Valeria Foti
organisation Rossana Miele
production Livia Andrea Piazza / Studio Grilli 
co-production 
Terni Festival, Contemporanea Festival/Teatro Metastasio, MAXXI – Museo Nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Kunstencentrum Vooruit, Galleria Umberto Di Marino

LaRete Art Projects