L’Incontro: Reading by Silvia Giambrone
EPISODE 2 – FOROF ESSENZA
On 15 June 2023, FOROF presented the second Episode of the Special Season FOROF ESSENZA, a project that brings contemporary art into dialogue with olfactory creation and the history of Rome through a reflection on the concept of Freedom.
The evening featured artist Silvia Giambrone with the reading L’Incontro, curated by Paola Ugolini, set within the hypogeum space of the Basilica Ulpia — a symbolic site where, in ancient Rome, slaves could regain their freedom through the act of manumissio.
Suggested photo: the artist during the reading in the underground space, audience gathered in attentive listening.
Between memory and justice
Through the reading of excerpts from Il libro dell’Incontro. Vittime e responsabili della lotta armata a confronto, the artist gave voice to a collective journey of dialogue between victims and perpetrators of political violence during the 1970s.
The words, intense and deeply moving, conveyed the complexity of a ten-year process centred on the principle of restorative justice: an idea of justice that goes beyond punishment to focus on human damage and the possibility of reconciliation.
Within the suspended silence of the archaeological space, the reading transformed listening into a shared experience, inviting reflection on the present through the wounds of the past.
Suggested photo: audience detail during the reading, intimate and immersive atmosphere.
The body, trauma, and relationships
Silvia Giambrone’s artistic research focuses on power dynamics and the most hidden forms of subjugation that permeate human relationships, investigating the political dimension of intimacy.
Through her voice, the reading evoked the deep consequences of individual and collective trauma, highlighting how shared memory can become a tool for awareness and transformation.
An experience that revealed how the concept of Freedom — the central theme of the Season — also passes through the recognition of wounds and the possibility of dialogue.
Suggested photo: close-up of the artist during the reading, expressive moment.
A journey between art and perception
The reading also inaugurated an exhibition in the hypogeum featuring the works Cutlery, Mirror no. 24 and the video Traum, on view until 15 July 2023.
Within FOROF ESSENZA, each Episode contributes to a multisensory experience in which scent — developed in collaboration with Laura Bosetti Tonatto — becomes a vehicle of memory and perception, intertwining with art, history and space.
Episode after Episode, the programme invites the audience to explore new forms of relationship between body, environment and memory, in a continuous dialogue between past and contemporaneity.
Suggested photo: installation view of the exhibition in the underground space.