Transnational encounter in Rome/Italy, June 2022
At the beginning of the workshop, the group came together through exercises on gestures and voices from independent theatre work. Together, the participants developed small choreographies on the theme of “energy“. In this way, the overall theme of climate+change was linked to the focal points of the encounter in Rome: Waste and “green” urban development.
In the area around the Via del Trullo on the periphery in the southwest of the city, the participants explored the works of art with Mario, the artist, poet and original inhabitant of the neighbourhood, which are the result of once illegal actions to beautify the neighbourhood. Various other initiatives by residents made clear how self-organisation can promote solidarity and, for example, transform a courtyard society into a veritable bio-sociotope. In discussions with architects and in the open field, the focus was also on how residents can make abandoned land fertile. “Urban gardening” is the key word, apparently all over Europe.
A few kilometres further and also in contrast to the cultural metropolis of the city centre, the group visited the “snake building” in Rome-Corviale. They gained impressions of a place that holds many potentials and yet still struggles with the sins of technocratic-fixated thinking.
“I felt younger. That’s the solution – meeting different people.” “We do ours. We are Rome. Not them in the city.” Voices of two residents.