street performance, variable duration


production and residency support
Domus Atelier, Galatina, IT

credits
conception, realisation and performance / Maria Luigia Gioffrè
production assistant / Anna Mostardi

Mignano consists of a street parade dressing textile centrepieces donated by local women who celebrated their marriage (southern italian wedding gifts for women known as “corredo”) The parade-walk takes place on streets of Galatina in Puglia, Italy, and it follows the path from the residency house Domus Atelier to the church of San Paolo.

The town of Galatina is peculiarly known as the place where the tradition of taranta was practiced since its very origin. The phenomenon - which according to anthropology has been recognised both as a tragic and a cathartic
ritual - historically used to happen in the church of San Paolo in Galatina, nowadays closed to the public. Beside that, during my residency time, I discovered that the residency house of Domus Atelier used to be a “mignano” in the past:
an architectural building with a balcony-space where women who were not allowed to go out with men could sit and observe what was happening on streets.
The performance starts its journey exactly from the house used to be a mignano and it ends once arrived to the church. The work consists also of a recorded audio piece, captured from the mignano (balcony) of the house, which today faces on a street where teenagers use to gather and chat.