Monira Foundation Presents Live Performances

The Italian section of PaNingenesi is curated by Lori Adragna. It is a participatory piece of Land Art based on the motif of the ‘incuse square’ shown on some archaic coins minted in the ancient city of Selinus.

This motif will emerge after the stubbles left in the wheat Tields and bread made with the harvested wheat will have been partially burned. The practice of burning stubble helps to regenerate the Tields and eliminate pathogens and weeds. Here it takes on a propitious value and, above all, during a pandemic period, a cathartic one, that of a palingenesis. The ‘incuse square’ recalls different sun symbols, refers to the cycles of life, and becomes here a talisman, a way to wish for rebirth and regeneration. In PaNingenesi, the symbols and signs have been conceived as gifts to the community, and they are set in motion by a collective ritual that puts together coins and bread whose values and meanings overlap. Participants will witness the preliminary burning of the stubbles in the Tield through a video projection at the ‘Baglio Florio’. Then, they will all walk together, like in a parade to reach the valley called ‘Gorgo Cottone’, located between the acropolis and the Baglio, where the performance will be held. The audience will stand along the sides of the incuse square, which will be marked by ashes and burnt residues. The rite with the bread will take place here with two children as main protagonists, standing in the middle where the two axes meet. Participants will move around within the square and will receive a loaf of bread made with the harvested wheat and bearing the same symbol. The bread can be eaten during the ritual, shared, or kept to testify to the encounter. PaNingenesi is one of the artist’s series of artistic projects centred on the theme of bread and its symbolic value. Like Pan-Gea, a work of art in augmented reality recently presented in the framework of the project Arkad, Manifesta 13, and the video installation I Am Blooming originated from the cooperation between Monumental Callao, Mana Contemporary, and the Sant’Elia Foundation of Palermo.

God is Burning is a live performance by the artist Mario Bajardi, curated by Floriana Spanò for the Italian section. It starts from the concept of rebirth, a topical concept due to the lockdown period and Covid 19 pandemic. It was anticipated by the project ONE VOICE with the Fugaz Foundation, Monumental Callao (Peru), and Mana Contemporary in Jersey City.

The performance by the artist Mario Bajardi will unfold in the enchanting setting of the Archaeological Park of Selinunte, a majestic place hinting at an ancient time when divinity, the sacred, and the profane existed side by side. The artist, a musician and a sound designer, will take on an unusual role to recreate an engaging atmosphere that recalls the cathartic rites of ancient peoples.

The performance involves the use of Tire, an archaic element with a strong magical and religious value. It was used during rural rituals as a propitiatory element for the harvest to be rich while ancient men and women used it to dominate nature and exorcise the unknown by lifting the darkness with light, and to dispel evil, by spreading the ashes produced by burning dry branches over their heads and bodies as a sign of puriFication. The artist, like a priest during traditional rituals, will perform a similar puriTication and regeneration rite by burning his violin. The energy originating from the combustion will be transformed into a positive and regenerated energy. The Tire itself is the great regenerator, the Time of our aspirations burning our inner adversities, as a way to unify the visible and invisible world which transforms matter. As in a traditional ritual, the artist offers his own violin to the Gods of the Archaeological Park of Selinunte for free music. It will be donated to the place and to those who wish to continue listening to it and to themselves at the same time not only through the sound, but also through words in a world where we have stopped listening to ourselves individually and collectively.

The Tire represents the light moving away from darkness, which is reborn in each piece of wood and becomes young and lively again as in a perpetual rite of death and rebirth. The burnt violin returns to the soil in the form of ashes as if the wood, its very constituent element, could be reborn and transformed again into a tree. It is a life cycle, which, having been ‘puriTied’ from its internal and external obstacles, guides us towards knowing ourselves thanks to light. The public, at sunset, around 7:00 pm, will be welcomed to temple F, one of the most evocative spots in the Archaeological Park of Selinunte, Cave di Cusa, and Pantelleria, to attend the live electronic music performance. It will last about 45 minutes and is part of the artist’s last album called ‘"In silence quote;’ released in February 2020.

The performance will be accompanied by pieces written and produced by the artist, which are introspective and intimist, aimed at encouraging individuals to listen to each other in a generation always on the run that pays little attention to what others say and try to communicate.