Often in our research a physical and tangible place has been explored to reflect on its symbolic content, such as the garden, the city square, urban or natural landscapes. In this case a place with specific geomorphic characteristics will be the starting point for the creation of dynamic and visual materials: the island. A portion of dry land completely surrounded by water and thus separated from other land masses, a circumscribed space that defines the walkable, the place on which it is possible to shape the idea and the practice of living.

In Italian, and derived from it also in English and German, the linguistic-historical connection between the words Isola/Island/Insel and isolation underlines the symbolic connection between an imposed or inner isolation and a detachment from the world – spiritual and physical states which seem familiar in our times and which interest us to a special degree for this new work.

Based on the research of geographer and historian Jared Diamond, who analyses the condition of non-isolation as one of the most important conditions for a community to thrive and develop, we will address the particular social situation of communities based on islands and how this geographical condition has generated and preserved specific cultural traditions. In a symbolic sense the island will also be addressed as an existential condition.

Looking at literature examples like the iconic novel Robinson Crusoe by Defoe or the classical theater play The Tempest by Shakespeare, the four performers will inhabit the fictitious space of a deserted island recalling the character of the castaway or the exile, embodying a “detachment from the world”, a fruitful as well as terrifying collapse into profound depths of oneself.

— Panzetti / Ticconi