P006 → Liscio Salmastro-A Salt Burnt Dance (2020)
The coastal area of Ravenna, Italy, is experiencing profound changes due to natural and human-induced factors like subsidence, droughts, high water usage, and salt wedge intrusion. These conditions are drastically increasing soil salinity and leading to desertification of formerly fertile lands. Once rich with cultural, economic, and social significance, these now-abandoned landscapes have lost their meaning and role. The project explores how to forge a new relationship with this transformed land, not merely forgetting but reconnecting with it.
It reimagines the desolate landscape as a 3m x 3m crystallized soil dancefloor, used for a performance remixing traditional ‘liscio’ music into a more contemporary piece in which the crystalised morphs and as the dance progresses.
This installation and performance turn the soil into a symbolic ballroom where music evolves from a mournful requiem to joyful dance, addressing themes of loss, mourn- ing, and identity. It highlights that land, beyond its materiality, holds cultural and symbolic value, urging a reconnection with its essence.