A Precarious Balance Between Disaster and Miracle

The performing arts festival Il Divertimento per li Regazzi [“Entertainment for Kids” or “Fun for Kids”, translators’ note] took place on 6th and 7th December 2019 at Il Cerchio, a cooperative located in Sacca Fisola, part of Giudecca island, in Venice. The event was curated by the collective Extragarbo and was produced in collaboration with IUAV University’s Student Senate. Edo: What is the genius loci of Il Divertimento? In our project the fact that we considered the space as a subject was crucial. However I wonder whether it is really useful to define a theme in advance when you are starting to plan something. In this case, was it useful in regard to what we’ve done? We ourselves have suggested a theme. It was the title: Il Divertimento. The theme may be interpreted in different ways: at what point does the theme affect the process? at what point does the process affect the theme? Methodologically, it happens when need and desire drive you to do things. We could also say that a word is also a vector of creation, a note that you may instill into what you are doing. Cosimo: I agree with the fact that fun was a theme, that our aim was to advocate for fun and to revalorize it in order to restore its emotional value. It was an umbrella theme, something like an area where things happen without violence. Where things are called to react to stimuli. Edo: A suggestion. Cosimo: An atmosphere... Edo: An atmosphere that institutes something! It was about putting an intuition forward, making a creative space available to somebody, though without claiming ownership over it. Sharing an intuition and making sure that it can grow to become something self-sustaining. Gaia: That is one of the focal points of the project: creating an atmosphere that enables things to get going, to happen. Not a theme that levels out everything but, on the contrary, something that opens up possibilities and generative processes. Edo: With specific paths. Cosimo: Tim Ingold speaks of a form of inquiry that has nothing to do with trying to illustrate what you have theorised or what you’ve planned, as is the case in a scientific experiment. In his opinion, inquiring consists in opening a door and watching where the corridor leads. Letting yourself be guided by the tracks you chose to follow without wishing to be sure you know where you’re going.1 Edo: For me, the curatorial attitude is to open that door. This is the very gesture. The curator’s task is to make sure that you can go through that door, so that you are free to decide how you will proceed along the path. Gaia: That’s right! That’s a beautiful image, isn’t it? Edo: It is about putting yourself on the line, embracing uncertainty