CURA.

Four days of full immersion, from 8 am until late at night, with over 30 events including art, dance, theater, and music performances as well as other events that will turn L’Aquila into an urban workshop of creativity and experimentation, involving citizens of all ages.

There will be lots of artists, performers, musicians of national and international acclaim, including: Jacopo Ceccarelli/2501, Elena Bellantoni, Canedicoda, Elisabetta Cibelli, Collettivo Fuori Genere, Collettivo Hynverno, Cristina Donà and Daniele Ninarello, Ninos Du Brasil, Francesca Grilli, Piotr Hanzelewicz, Hassan Khan, Kinkaleri, Masbedo, mk/Michele Di Stefano, Valentina Magaletti, Isabella Mongelli, Margherita Morgantin, Roberta Mosca, Daniele Poccia, Martina Raponi, SSIEGE, Tomás Saraceno, Filippo Tappi, Giulia Vismara, and Italo Zuffi.

The students of the Fine Arts Academy will also be involved with live artistic actions.

The first edition of PERFORMATIVE.01 is entitled CONTACT(less), and is realized in collaboration with the L’Aquila Fine Arts Academy.

In the words of Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, Director of MAXXI L’Aquila: “The liveliness of this city is a great stimulus and it is a pleasure to work with L’Aquila’s very rich artistic, cultural, and scientific community. Along with the Fine Arts Academy, we had begun to collaborate already before the opening of the museum, for the in-training courses, the commission, the cultural mediation. With CONTACT(less) this collaboration continues also with MuNDA Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo directed by Maria Grazia Filetici and is extended to the rest of the city. The title evokes a paradox: if, on the one hand, the lack of contact linked to digitization is an indication of progress, on the other, it triggers a new longing for interaction. The artists’ actions thus aim to rekindle a fabric of relationships, and to affirm the central nature of the performative arts in the capital of Abruzzo, as part of a tradition of great artists who have worked in this land, especially Joseph Beuys and Fabio Mauri, to whom this first edition is dedicated.”

New productions and performances are planned that have already achieved important international acknowledgments, with a special focus on the events of the present, in particular the use of virtual connections owing to social distancing.

The written materials, audiovisuals, and documents that are produced during this event will be exhibited later and will remain available to the public in dedicated rooms.

Saturday, September 18, in Piazza Santa Maria Paganica, the students of the L’Aquila Fine Arts Academy will be the protagonists of three performances (at 11 am, noon, and 3 pm). In the afternoon, in the museum courtyard, an installation by Canedicoda and Collettivo inverno will be on display, and Italo Zuffi, Daniele Poccia and Giulia Vismara will present their con-formance entitled Oscuramento 3, inspired by the works of Fabio Mauri.

The evening continues at the Academy Theater with an iconic contemporary theater performance: OTTO by the collective Kinkaleri, winner in 2002 of the prestigious UBU Award for theater-dance performance. On stage performers take turns entering the scene and dropping and their falling down becoming the symbol of an era. After nearly 20 years have passed, OTTO still manages to surprise the public and offer food for thought.
 Afterwards, on MAXXI L’Aquila’s stage, the musical performances of Martina Raponi with Echo, the Ninos du Brasil, who will present their fourth album released on May 26 entitled Antro Pop and composed at the height of the lockdown, and the producer SSIEGE who will present his most recent album Meteora, almost a dreamlike vision in a close-knit conversation between patterns of mechanical drums and arpeggios.
 The eventful day will draw to a close with the performance ReVival by Elena Bellantoni, who will recreate an unusual Eighties-stye disco atmosphere inside a store window in the historical quarter of the city.

Sunday, September 19, at the museum, the last day of CONTACT(less) will feature the presentation of works by Filippo Tappi and Jacopo Ceccarelli/25 and a talk between Tomàs Saraceno and Bartolomeo Pietromarchi.
In the evening, an exceptional finale with a performance by Hassan Khan, musician, artist, and writer who will perform his composition for hand-clapping In Live Ammunition! Music for Clapping, String Quartet and Live Electronics (2013). In his work, the hand-clapping ritual is accompanied by references to the present time, such as the protests that took place in the square after the coup d’état in Egypt in 2013. Hence the title Live Ammunition!

CONTACT(less) will have a coda during the first week in October and in November with Alessandro Sciarroni, Golden Lion at the 2018 Biennale Danza. One of the most significant artists, directors, and choreographers in Italy’s contemporary scene, for MAXXI L’Aquila the artist will present some of his creations, weaving a common thread in the imaginary of those viewing the museum rooms. On October 2 at noon and October 3 at 3 pm, Dialogo terzo: In a Landscape (2020) will take place, along with the Collettivo Cinetico. Saturday, November 6 at 3 pm and Sunday November 7 at 11 pm Save the last dance for me (2019) will be performed, alternating with CHROMA Don’t be frightened of turning the page (2017).

OPEN CALL TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PERFORMANCES
Calls for citizens to participate in some of the performances can already be found at maxxilaquila.art, starting from Dolce Lotta_Laquila by Virgilo Sieni, a performance created for people of all ages and origins, even those who know nothing about dance, who want to participate in the creation of this choreographic action (September 2 and 3 open rehearsals, September 4 performance).
 Another open call is for children aged 9 to 12 for Francesca Grilli’s action Spark 2021.

Lastly, anyone interested can sign up to participate in the project by Jacopo Ceccarelli/2501, involving the realization of a video in which the participants, filmed from above by a drone and according to the artist’s indications, create geometric shapes and compositions using materials related to the territory.