Tag Archives: taranta

A summer in movement…

We are glad to announce that Jatun Risba will spend their summer in S of italy, doing a 2-months artist-in-residence program at STEAM Atelier in Lecce (LE) under the title: “The care of self and dancing comunities in the contemporary, technological world”. During this period, the artist will develop, in coproduction with the hosting organization, two new intermedia works: Mpasturavacche and Heallo.

The immersive one-to-one performance Mpasturavacche will be first presented at the Artperforming festival at Galatina (LE) on the 5th of July and then again, in the first days of August, at the artist-run festival OutsideininsideoutinsideoutoutsideiN on the border between Germany and Czech Republic.

the prototype developed during the first working session on the project Mpasturavacche

Risba will take part also in the Artperforming festival in Napoli. Starting on the 27th July morning, the artist will enact the work Excercises in Dying for 24-hrs, in a different set-up and agenda than in the year 2017.

The intermedia work Heallo, which takes the form of a technology and sensory augmented happening, will be developed throughout the whole period of the residence at STEAM  Atelier in collaboration with a number of professionals working in different fields and launched at the art festival Pixxelpoint 2019 on the 21st of November in Nova Gorica, Slovenia. In parallel to the work on Heallo, Risba will use their residency in Salento (Apuglia) to do a field study of the ancient dance ritual of “Tarantismo”, a social and anthropological phenomena that is now celebrated, through spectacularization, at “La notte della Taranta” festival.

Finally, in the last days of August, Risba will travel to Strasbourg to attend the ladiyFEST #2, the festival ki* attended already last year with the actio, installation and workshop Not an Adolescent Girl. This year, the artist will enact the intermedia performance Mpasturavacche and facilitate a somatic workshop “Possession dance. In, out and beyond self”.

*Jatun Risba uses the pronoun ki, to set an impartial tone where the existence of all living beings within an animate is acknowledged and praised.

Looking Back to See the Future

Activities in UK

In November 2018 Jatun Risba moved to London and started a self-directed research residency at Live Arts Development Agency – LADA about the use, role and technique of Trance in Contemporary Live Arts, as well as a Diploma course in hypnotherapy with Dr. John Butler at the HTI. Hypnotherapy Training International.

Activities in Italy

In February 2019 the work Not an Adolescent Girl will be part of the art exhibition Stand for Girls, curated by Elisabetta Longari, at Fabbrica del Vapore, Milano. In July and August 2019, Risba will be an Artist in Residence at the STEAM Atelier in Lecce for a field research about taranta and the production of a new performance-based intermedia work ‘Heallo’. Jatun Risba was invited to participate at the Artperformingfestival, curated by Gianni Nappa, that will be held at PAN Palazzo delle Arti Napoli between the 20th of July and the 2nd of August 2019.

Activities in France

Jatun will return to Strasbourg, France in March to give a performative lecture at the University of Fine Arts about trance and to lead a workshop of Interesse dance.

Activities in Slovenia

In November 2019, the work ‘Heallo’ will be launched at the 20th edition of the Festival of Contemporary Art Practices PIXXELPOINT 2019, curated by Peter Purg, in Nova Gorica.

 

MRI MS is landing in Salento

Recently, Jatun Risba spent 4 days in Salento, the “heel” of the Italian “boot”,  for a quick survey of the territory and its majestic material culture. Her first encounter with this land, its ancient folk traditions and its open, hospitable inhabitants, was extremely inspiring and rewarding. From September 2018 on, she will undertake an Artist in Residence program at STEAM Atelier in Lecce that will be divided into slots spread over a minimum of 12 months.The residency will allow Jatun to continue the field research about traditional possession rituals and passage rites, a study she had started in Ethiopia back in 2015, as well as to create and present new developments of her life-long Intermedia Art project MRI MS. My Resting In Myself Sane.

Before each new Art event, an open steam lab (promoted by STEAM Atelier & Fab Lab Lecce Knos) will be held, during which the basis of the technological know-how employed in the project will be openly shared and collectivized with the local community. This is how people attending the workshops will immediately become an active part of the project and its organization in a decentralized modality of work.

Salento is the land of the Taranta, the Dance of the Spider, an ancient dancing healing ritual. During her recent short stay in Apulia, Jatun spent almost two full days in Galatina, the birthplace of the phenomenon of Tarantism. To get an idea of what tarantism was about, here is the documentary La taranta produced by Gianfranco Mingozzi:

The recordings from the docu-film were made inside the Chapel of St Paul in Galatina, the place where the first manifestationts of taranta occurred. The narrative of taranta tells us that it is only San Paolo (the Saint depicted on the altar in the photo bellow), who can release the “tarantata” from the malady caused by the spider bite and it is to San Paolo that the victim appeals for release during her ritual dancing.

However, the material culture of our time offers us a much different milieu in which to operate and the remedies for establishing an empowering life within a healthy community, should differ drastically from the ones used in pre-industrial agricultural societies. But how and what for?

Like the Fb pages STEAM Atelier and MRI MS. My Resting In Myself Sane in order to be informed about the future steps of this inspiring journey.  “Ahi!”