When I Breathe, I Swallow the Lagoon/Quando Respiro, Digerisco la Laguna

performance, 2022

“When I Breathe, I Swallow the Lagoon” is a performance that chronicles the bonds between humans and non-humans in a toxic environment. It does so by taking participants where the landscape of the Venetian Lagoon rebels against binary geographical and temporal coordinates: land become liquid; emerged islands are part of the seabed; pas and future blur into continuous present.

Set in this amphibious Lagoon, never fully emerged or submerged, the performance swings along the infrastructure of an oil refinery in Venice’s petrochemical industrial site. Walking, standing sitting, and breathing collectively, participants’ bodie are orchestrated into a complete immersion that fluctuates between unsettling proximity to toxicity an the empowering intimacy they collectively embrace.

Conjuring and intricately blending destroyed an imagined landscapes, timelines, and personas, the performance script delves into the enduring damage of petrochemical infrastructures. It accentuate the symbiotic relationship connecting bodies, environments, and power structures to rethink responsibility in deep time.