ABOUT THE PROJECT

Every archival action relates to a chronological arc that can be described as either extreme remote or extreme recent.

Borrowing this definition for its title, Estremo Remoto (Extreme Remote) offers the audience an emotional immersion into the theme of memory and into the relationships that, over time, bind us to places, moments, and people—rooting us to them like waystations along a complex life journey marked by departures and returns.

The research develops from a specific point of observation: the admission records of foundlings and orphans between 1770 and 1909 in the Austro-Hungarian areas of Italy. The archival corpus on which the project is based consists of 82 registers documenting the reception of abandoned children delivered to the foundling wheel.

The foundling wheel was a cylindrical wooden rotating device divided into two parts: one facing outward and one inward. Through a small door, newborns could be placed inside without being seen from within the institution. By turning the wheel, it aligned with an interior opening, where the door could be opened and care provided to the infant. Often a small bell was installed nearby to alert those responsible, as well as a narrow slot in the wall—similar to a letterbox—where donations could be left to support the care of the foundlings.

For the possibility of later recognition, and to verify legitimacy should the child be reclaimed, objects such as jewellery, documents, or other identifying marks were placed in the wheel together with the infant. These were often tokens split into two matching parts—one accompanying the child, the other retained by the mother—known as signals of exposure. These signs were catalogued by the receiving institutions as formal attachments to the archival registers.

ON THE CREATION OF A FIRST ARCHIVAL DANCE

Starting from these signals of exposure, Marta Bevilacqua (Arearea Company – Udine) and Stefano Mazzotta (Zerogrammi Company – Turin) initiate a choreographic research grounded in concepts such as body, memory, archive, and boundary. Within this framework, they locate the meaning of their dance in smallness—in the scale of action and in the direct relationship established with the audience.

The project took its first steps within the corridors and study rooms of the State Archives of Trieste, in a site-specific form, before finding its way into museum spaces, foyers, and theatre stages.

The dance unfolds through a sequence of minute, delicate actions, oriented toward the preparation for a great journey, the fulfilment of a great farewell. As the narrative develops—within a meticulous choreography for two performers—the space gradually contracts, revealing the meaning and evocative power of small things.

Estremo Remoto is both a space of care and a time for social reflection. Just as dance emerges from movements and gestures that precede us and belong to collective memory, history itself is the result of countless lives that may appear insignificant individually, yet together shape events. The archival approach condenses objects and geographies, transforming the person into a memory that dances.

A first research chapter of the ESTREMO REMOTO project was produced and presented in collaboration with the State Archives of Trieste and Festival Danceproject in November 2024.