Care of Margins

2022

The publication Care of Margins, titled after the symposium organised by Robida, contains some of the reflections shared during few days in September 2021.
→ symposium Care of Margins

Some of the contributions question the concept of residency in itself, others are very personal memories of those days highlighting the valuable moments, routines and thoughts we shared. Other texts try to transgress dichotomies such as local vs. foreign, insider vs. outsider, host vs. guest, bringing up themes such as translocal connectedness as in the reflections of Curdin Tones. The affective relation between space and temporary or permanent inhabitants is explored in the poetic text of Mara Usai while a more scientific, micro-biological relation to landscape is addressed by Philipp Kolmann. Jack Bardwell reflects on the possibility of a polyrhythmic co-existence of the guests and hosts while Lenn Cox underlines the importance of generative boundaries, referring to personal and collective everyday ecologies. Francesca Lucchitta widely reflects on daily routines, recalling moments and the atmosphere of those days and Janja shares notes on the power of togetherness. Studio Wild focuses on the building up of the residency, imagined as a collective action where taking part in the residency could also mean contributing to the renovation of the building itself, while Tommaso Garavini proposes the beautiful metaphor of the house as a toolbox or as a Swiss pocket knife. Laura Savina speaks of a fertile white, to refer to the countless and wide possibilities opening in front of us when imagining this space, intended as a new, empty, white paper. Besides describing her experience as the first artist in residency to inhabit the village for a longer period of time, Kim Lang focuses on the concept of the calendar as one of the conclusions we reached during the symposium. The calendar is a tool that addresses all the previously mentioned topics: the relation of the artists/researchers/architects/etc. to landscape, their inclusion in the rhythms of the community and the need of sharing with them responsibilities, of making them become dwellers of the village.

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List of participants:
Natalia Agati, Elena Braida, Jack Bardwell, Dora Ciccone, Lenn Cox, Tommaso Garavini, Antoine Guay, Tymon Hogenelst, Philipp Kolmann, Kim Lang, Matteo Locci, Francesca Lucchitta, Tanja Marmai, Jan van der Ploeg, Jesse van der Ploeg, Johannes Reisigl, Elena Rucli, Vida Rucli, Laura Savina, Vid Skrbinšek, Egor Sviridenko, Aljaž Škrlep, Janja Šušnjar, Mercedes Talevi, Rosario Talevi, Sabina Enea Téari, Curdin Tones, Giuditta Trani, Başak Tuna, Mara Usai.

Get your copy here

Editorial board: Vida Rucli
Franca Lucchitta
Kim Lang
Graphic design: Franca Lucchitta
Kim Lang

ABC

Affinity

Affinities are inclinations, affections, kinships, and connections between different bodies, human and non-human. The Irish essayist Brian Dillon defined affinity as "something a little bit stupid", "a realm of the unthought, unthinkable, something that unkillable by attitudes or arguments". The realm of pre-thought inclination towards something, the realm of love, perhaps you could also call it.
Perhaps we want to use the word affinity to first recall what the German philosopher Walter Benjamin called correspondence. With this concept, Benjamin hinted at the relationship between different elements of the world or its phenomena, which meaningfully connect with each other or create a certain resonance or organic analogy between them. His notion of correspondences contains the idea that certain objects, images, or experiences can be understood in relation to other objects, images, or experiences, whereby we can begin to reveal hidden connections and meanings that would be missed if we focused solely on individual entities before them being placed in one of these relationships.

written in 2023

Aljaž Škrlep

Be-longing

Ola Korbańska

Pisdaria

“I found a pisdaria.” – “What is that pisdaria?” – “Look how many pisdarie.” – “Here we will put some pisdarie.” – “I woke up feeling a pisdaria on my left leg.” – “Look, this is such a pisdaria!”

During autumn I lived for some time in Topolò and every now and then I have been hearing Ali saying pisdaria. One afternoon the sound of this word suddenly caught my attention. I started to repeat it, not knowing exactly what it meant. It became a synonym for thing, element, moment, word, feeling – one that is a bit familiar, little, light and simple. Something that, all the time it was repeated, would make us smile. Since then, all the time I talk with Vida or Elena all the little traces, marks, cute things, crumbles are just and simply pisdarie.

I find very fascinating and beautiful how language evolves in groups of people spending time together and how the meaning of a word like pisdaria can be familiar and understood by the specific group that has been together in a certain moment in time-space.

Vida Rucli

Relaxed and disciplined

One of the most prominent Slovene partisan poets Matej Bor once wrote: “The rhythm of Slovene revolutionary poetry must merge into one with our liberation struggle. And what is the rhythm of the awakened Slovenian masses? Relaxed and disciplined at the same time. Why would we search for form in various currents and -isms? Form is dictated to us by our flowing life itself.” Living in an abandoned village throughout the whole year requires intentionality in both discipline and relaxation. While life in the city is guided by the city-flow, in Topolò, the lack of the gaze of another during winter and our consequential habit of this lack turned our gaze to the flow of surrounding nature, our loyal companion: be persistent and disciplined in growing, generous and relaxed in giving.

Written in 2022

Aljaž Škrlep

Written in 2022

Studio Wild

Temporary dweller

Dwelling is primarily the establishment of a relationship between a human being and the environment. This relationship is established through identification or a sense of belonging to a certain place. Hence, the dwelling community is not necessarily only people permanently living in the place, but also those who have an affection to the place and dedicate care to it. Those who keep returning, those who spend every holiday in a specific place, those who create for the place, those who are inspired by the place, those who experience it as a safe shelter, waiting for them like family. The set of relations between people dwelling in place and people visiting/returning are bound in time, not in a hurry, but in a low spiral time. Community is built on values such as reciprocity, collaboration, support, and care.

See also Residency, Responsibility, Return, Visiting

Written in 2023

Janja Šušnjar

Tingling

When the sunlight touches the surface of the water little sparkles appear – I call them tingles. It somehow makes me smile and feel light. When tingles affect my body, I usually can't calm down, a special enthusiasm takes over everything and makes me feel bubbling.

I love the Italian word to define this phenomena: 'formicolio', from 'formica' (ant); as when I was young and without noticing I sat over an ant hill – multitude in motion – and suddenly my body was covered of these fast little insects.
I experience different types of this little slight prickling sensation. Tingling describes both the quick, very quick movement of elements in space, the strong feeling of an emotion, and the feeling as if a lot of sharp points are being put quickly and lightly into the body.

Tingles for the unknown. Tingles for surprises. Tingles for excitement. Tingles of fear. Pins and needles.

Sometimes I take a moment to observe the splendid sparkles flowing on the surface of the water creating an over-shifting brilliant pattern. Somehow standing in a point and observing this spectacle gives me a sense of, at the same time, calm and excitement. Their magic and ephemeral presence is hard to grasp and even when I see them, if I slowly move I notice how the sparkle slowly disappears, but I carry some tingles with me.

_Tingling moments: little situations–traces–memories that I like to remember and carry-with-me. Lived moments, that if I think about, I immediately feel some joy and a sensation of lightness spreads all over me.
“How else do most of us experience history if not in the presence or absence of small things?”
Thea Lenarduzzi, Dandelions, Fitzcarraldo, 2020

Vida Rucli

Zappa

The hoe is an ancient and versatile agricultural and horticultural hand tool used to shape soil, remove weeds, clear soil, and harvest root crops. Shaping the soil includes piling soil around the base of plants (hilling), digging narrow furrows (drills) and shallow trenches for planting seeds or bulbs.

Written in 2022

Studio Wild