produced by: Vione Laboratorio Permanente
residency workshop, 2023
Vione (BS)

Porta de Viu
site specific installation _ Vione Laboratorio Permanente

Passage, gateway, portal, leading into the mountain village of Vione. This is a place that is affected by heavy depopulation, where you can feel an urgency of welcoming new people, new energies, a need of being permeated by the outside newcomers.

This rural community used to rely on agriculture and herding, both activities being based on a delicate balance of mutual care between the villagers and the mountain. Harvesting hay used to be a collective ritual of cleaning the mountain, aimed at gathering food for the animals for the cold season.

Now that this balance is broken, due to new globalised social and economical models, the community of Vione is in danger of extinction. Its inhabitants still stick around contemporary rituals like the "Sagra del Calsù" (a feast dedicated to their typical stuffed pasta) to keep the community alive.

This portal stands for a new contemporary ritual, and as a symbol of the necessity of recovering a dialogue and a relationship of care with Nature. A good omen for the village of Vione, to be able to attract new energies and people to revive sustainable living modes, based on proximity, community and respect.

The installation was realised during a 6-days residency workshop in Vione as part of Vione Laboratorio Permanente programme.