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My research revolves around the construction and deconstruction of bodies and landscapes through performative arts. I investigate voice, breathing, and corporeal phenomena to recount history, build community, and transcend the boundaries of language.
Elena Rivoltini (Varese, Italy, 1994) graduated in 2017 from the School of the Piccolo Teatro, Milan, in the program selected by Luca Ronconi. Simultaneously, she pursued musical studies, specializing in ancient vocal polyphony and electronic music. As performer, sound artist, and curator, Rivoltini explores voice, body proprioception, and breathing to create site-specific performances and projects. She made her theatrical debut as a performer for Bob Wilson in Odyssey (2015); in the following years, she worked as an author and performer for the Venice Biennale Musica and Biennale Teatro; Piccolo Teatro and Teatro Franco Parenti, Milan; Teatro LAC, Lugano; Teatro India and Teatro Argentina, Rome; Teatros del Canal, Madrid; and Théâtre National, Wallonie-Bruxelles. She has created performative installations for fashion and design brands as well as art and music institutions like the Triennale di Milano, Fondazione Modena Arti Visive, and Villa Panza in Varese. In 2022, she participated in the training project La quinta parete with Romeo Castellucci at the Triennale di Milano and completed the high-level training course ‘Malagola. Practices of complexity: creative processes in contemporary vocal and sound research.’ She curates an archive of glossolalia, has been selected for the 2023/24 edition of FONDO, a network for emerging creativity, and will debut in July 2024 at the Santarcangelo Festival with a new work.
The village Bassiano has medieval origins, as shown by the majestic castle walls built by the Caetani family in the 13th century, and by the settlement's distinctive spiral structure. A series of stairways create countless routes amongst the alleys and hidden passages, leading up the hill dominated by the church of Sant’Erasmo and the square with the Civic Tower. The three gates to the village are not simply openings in the walls, but a point of contact between two worlds: rural and urban, interior and exterior. Entering the village through the Porta Nuova arch and looking out from the belvedere terrace, you find yourself immersed in a sea of green made up of oaks, holm oaks and beech trees. The medieval village comprises ancient homes known as “Case Torri” (Tower Houses) interlinked by a series of fascinating alleys.
In addition to the evocative hilly panorama, in Bassiano you can admire the Church of Sant'Erasmo, the Santuario del Crocifisso, and the Santuario della Santissima Trinità (Shrine of the Holy Trinity). The Museo delle Scritture Aldo Manuzio (Aldus Manutius Museum of Writing) – built in honour of the village's most famous citizen – which is a centre for research, preservation and promotion of textual works is very interesting.