April 20, 2024
h. 19:00
Beach

The Last Lamentation is a funeral ritual for the Mediterranean, seen as a place of waiting, suspension and passing away, an embodiment of absence.
A crossroads of present-day diasporas, the sea reverberates through a choral performance inspired by the ancient tradition of professional mourners, which connects the lament of Sardinia – the artist’s birthplace – with that of the neighbouring countries. Conceived as a ritual to take part in rather than a performance to look at, The Last Lamentation is a shared weeping that narrates the tragedy of the sea and reaches out like an echo to the entire Mediterranean. Orchestrated by twelve women who, with their backs to the audience, punctuate the landscape with their dark presence, the ritual is made of a repetitive and hypnotic vocal and choreographic score that reworks ritual codes into contemporary and abstract forms. Simple gestures hybridise the vocabulary of dance with signs from the archaeological and ethnographic heritage, a pre-verbal language connecting the mourners to the surrounding environment and the living beings within it, in a crescendo that becomes a prayer, a litany, the result of different worlds meeting.

Bio

Valentina Medda is an interdisciplinary artist from Sardinia based in Bologna. Her artistic practice unfolds between image, performance and site-specific interventions, investigating the relationship between public and private, body and architecture, city and social class. She has presented her work in international contexts such as Santarcangelo Festival, AUAWIRLEBEN in Hamburg, Little Bastard in Norway, and Mladi Levi in Ljubljana. She has been an artist-in-residence at BAR (Beirut), Cité des Arts (Paris), Flux Factory (NY), Les Bains Connective (Brussels) and Maison Ventidue (Bologna). She has received the Cimetta Fund, Movin up Regione Emilia Romagna, NYFA’s IAP Mentorship and Tina Art PRIZE. She was a winner of Perform Europe, Stronger Peripheries-Southern Coalition and the 11th Italian Council.

Credits

by Valentina Medda

curated by Maria Paola Zedda
Ideation and direction Valentina Medda
Choreography Valentina Medda
Music and Sound Design Gaspare Sammartano
Main vocalist Marianna Murgia
Produced by ZEIT Art Research
Co-produced by Sardegna Teatro and Santarcangelo Festival Project supported by the Italian Council (2022), Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity, Italian Ministry of Culture and Stronger Peripheries – A Southern Coalition (Bunker Ljubljana, L’Arboreto – Teatro Dimora, Sardegna Teatro)

Duration

25′

Tickets

Free entry