Farewell to known skies – by Gaia Fugazza
EPISODE 5 – SEASON III BALTIC ADVENTURE
On June 19, 2024, FOROF presented the final Episode of SEASON III – BALTIC ADVENTURE with Farewell to known skies, a performance by Gaia Fugazza in collaboration with Isabelle Woodhouse, featuring a costume designed by Diana Castaldi and curated by Ilaria Gianni.
The performance transformed the underground spaces of the Basilica Ulpia into a collective memory device, where climate, recollection, and community intertwined in a shared narrative.
Suggested photo: opening of the performance with Fugazza and Woodhouse inside the archaeological space.
Climate memories, community landscapes
Starting from interviews with Italians who have lived abroad for many years, the artist collected memories, emotions, and physical sensations linked to Italian climates perceived as “vanished.” The community’s landscape revealed itself as anchored in sensory memory: scents, temperatures, light, and winds forming the affective atlas of a place.
Suggested photo: detail of the costume designed by Diana Castaldi during a key moment of the performance.
From testimony to song
The micro-stories, edited by Fugazza while preserving the words and expressions of the interviewees, became a score sung by Isabelle Woodhouse. Her voice, often a cappella, activated a process of collective memory, making the audience complicit and involved, turning personal experiences into a shared chorus.
Suggested photo: close-up of Woodhouse singing, with the audience surrounding the apse.
Empathy, action, responsibility
Farewell to known skies reminded us how emotion can act as a driver of awareness and action in the face of climate change: individual memory becomes political, and remembrance becomes present. Among the remains of the Basilica Ulpia, beside the Mudmen by Augustas Serapinas, emerged the question of which Earth we will inhabit and how we wish to preserve its memories.
Suggested photo: wide shot with Mudmen in the background and the performance in the foreground.
A convivial closing
As tradition at FOROF, the Episode concluded with a food and wine experience curated by Rimessa Roscioli, extending the resonance of the narrative into a shared convivial moment.
Suggested photo: tasting table by Rimessa Roscioli with guests in conversation.