The exhibition “Journeys through the Lands of Remorse – Images of Tarantism”, a project by Big Sur, OfficinaVisioni, Cinema del reale and Errata Corrige – supported by the Municipal Council of Corigliano d’Otranto and the Puglia Region through the Polo Arti Cultura Turismo, under the patronage of the Fondazione Notte della Taranta, in collaboration with Castello Volante, Coolclub and MultiserviceEco. The travelling opening is scheduled for 11 July at 7.30 pm.
‘Journeys through the Lands of Remorse’ retraces, through photographs, published documents and contemporary reinterpretations, the adventure of ethno-anthropological research alongside the stories of the women and men who lived through it. The exhibition will feature: the observations of Dr Francesco De Raho, who published his doctoral thesis in 1908: ‘Tarantism in Superstition and Science’; ‘never-before-seen’ images from the archive of Franco Pinna, a photographer who collaborated on Ernesto de Martino’s scientific expeditions; the films of Gianfranco Mingozzi, who, in the 1950s and 1960s, travelling in the anthropologist’s wake, unveiled the South; the peasant world with its mysteries to be explored – ancestral roots, magical beliefs, traditional knowledge – and with them the distinctive character of the South that captured the interest of the illustrated magazines – alongside the photographic reportages by Chiara Samugheo, who was the first to document the spider, the ‘dance of fury’, possession and the ‘possessed women’. Also on display are images by the photographer and visual artist Alessia Rollo, who, with her ‘Parallel Eyes’ project, has embarked on a personal exploration of the rituals of Southern Italy, offering a contemporary interpretation of them, through digital and analogue manipulation of photographs and video frames, as well as works by Motus, who, through the practice of copy-art and collage, rewrites images and words relating to tarantism in the form of visual poetry.
‘There is a need for spirituality; there is a need for rites and rituals. I like those in which you immerse yourself in a pattern that repeats almost endlessly. And you let yourself be carried away; in a way, you suspend judgement, the desire to understand. You enter a sort of trance; this music spirals and holds you there, with just a few simple sounds and words. The body is fully present, in that instant, in that moment. A repetition that always brings you back to square one – purifying, ritualistic, regenerating. I’m reborn, I feel free, I become a child again, and it feels as though life and time stand still. You remain suspended there, and somehow you think: ‘You won’t die’.
Cosmo (Marco Jacopo Bianchi)
from ANTIPOP, a documentary film by Jacopo Farina (2023)
The words of a singer, his intimate poetics, affirm the desire for another dimension of cultural expression, another intensity, another way of seeing. To be ‘anti-pop’ or to herald a ‘new pop’ and shield oneself from vulgarisation and media overexposure. The secret of a collective spirit capable of forming a deep-seated community—a ‘village’ of shared intentions, built on mutual acceptance—lies within the experiences of the past, enabling us to understand our actions and to value lives, their uniqueness and their beauty.
The aim of the exhibition ‘Journeys through the Lands of Remorse’ is to return to a reflection on Tarantism, viewing through the lens of our contemporary perspective the era of research that unveiled it and brought it to light; to re-examine it in its ‘purity’, retracing the journey through the eyes of the witnesses who first investigated it. The unique perspectives of men and women, artists, scientists, doctors, scholars, journalists, photographers and documentary filmmakers. Their archives are a treasure trove, still alive and speaking of an experience to which our Salento region still refers, as it devises its strategies for communication and regional promotion.
The exhibition consists of ‘spaginate’ that, starting from the Sala della Tabaccaia – the heart of the ‘Castello Volante’ – which remains intact in its ancient form, will set off on a journey of discovery through the narrow streets and courtyards of the ‘Borgo Volante’ in Corigliano d’Otranto, offering, through the images and imagery of tarantism, an insight into the complexity of the phenomenon. The exhibition and the series of events that will bring it to life over the summer aim to spark a renewed interest in a tradition and a ritual that today appears worn down by approaches characterised by excessive spectacle.
“Journeys through the Lands of Remorse” also offers an opportunity to discover the castle and the historic centre of one of the most fascinating villages in Grecìa Salentina, a Greek-speaking linguistic enclave at the heart of Salento. Amidst the courtyard houses bearing surviving Greek inscriptions, following the traces of the old Orthodox churches and finally seeking shelter beneath the canopy of the centuries-old Vallonea oak, visitors will encounter the distinctive character of the Grecanic villages and their inhabitants.
The driving force for everyone is the idea of redemption, of a future yet to be shaped. Those were the years of a crucial period of reflection and rebirth: Italy, the complexity of its territorial balances, the defeat of the Monarchy with its failings in failing to oppose the horror of fascism, the first steps of the Republic, the hard-won democracy, the duty to comprehend, to understand, and to provide the means to break the subjugation that had long oppressed men and women, forced since time immemorial into toil, poverty and backwardness.
A lost knowledge, now a distant memory, in a contemporary world devoted to individualism, the erosion of values and superficiality. Thus, the aim of the exhibition ‘Journeys through the Lands of Remorse’ is to retrace that journey, to follow in the footsteps of that experience, to revisit that era; for we are convinced that re-establishing contact with the past may be the necessary step towards re-examining and reclaiming, in the present, that extraordinary period of commitment and exploration.
The exhibition forms part of the ‘Visioni del Sud’ programme, an exhibition series launched as part of the ‘Festa di Cinema del Reale’ film festival, which aims to support contemporary artistic production by drawing on historical or recently established archives, transforming the castle and the village of Corigliano d’Otranto from July to October into a hub for the visual arts and an observatory on the transformations of local areas.
The project is conceived and produced by Big Sur, OfficinaVisioni and the Cinema del Reale association, as part of the Apulia CineFestival Network 2024, with the support of the Puglia Region and the Apulia Film Commission. The event forms part of the Borgo Volante programme, a project by the Municipality of Corigliano d’Otranto supported by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism – Complementary Action and Cohesion Programme PON Culture and Development (ERDF) 2014–2020 – Operational Plan for Culture and Tourism (FSC) 2014–2020 and the Puglia Region’s Culture Fund in collaboration with the Arts, Culture and Tourism Hub.
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The programme
EXHIBITION / Castello and Borgo Volante
7.30 pm: EXHIBITION OPENING “JOURNEYS THROUGH THE LANDS OF REMORSE” Sala Tabaccaia (Castello Volante)
8.15 pm: MUSICAL PROCESSION THROUGH THE BORGO VOLANTE to explore the exhibition in the village, curated by Alessandra De Luca
itinerant music with Coro a Coro and Giorgio Doveri (violin), Donatello Pisanello and Jannis Ferrari (accordion); monologues by Claudio de Marco and Luigi dell’Anna, drag performance by Alister Victoria.
SCREENINGS / Castello Volante
9.00 pm: IMAGES OF TARANTISM
9.15 pm: THE LONG WHISTLE OF THE TARANTA by Paolo Pisanelli, 2005
FESTIVAL
10.30 pm: Musical Exorcisms – DJ set by Rachele Andrioli
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INFO
Castello Volante Exhibition
Tuesday to Sunday 10.00 – 13.00 / 17.00 – 21.00
admission €7
