Homemade Remedy For Patching Time is my personal and artistic way to deal with a certain time, namely the ‘90s.

The last decade of the XXth century is from my Italian perspective a period that starts on the ruins of big changes. In my memory, historical events are mixing up with personal trauma. The fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars in 1991 and the crumbling of the “First Republic” in Italy due to the nationwide judicial investigation into political corruption in 1992 stand side by side with the unexpected death of my father in 1990. With no intention to compare the events, I’m rather interested in the emotional consequences of extreme changes: in my case a dangerous mix of numbness and acute sensitivity that has got me stuck in a constant swinging between the opposite poles of arid disillusion and flooded hyper-reactivity.

The ‘90s lingers as a frozen time that needs to get unstuck from this vicious circle. This period of time is materialized on stage by a “the-day-after-the-party” table, three big pillows and the dancing body. I employ intuitive, half-obscure, performative strategies to open up, soften, and explore the leftovers of a time that has passed, but it’s still present.

Jungle and Drum & Bass music have in this project acted as a portal to approach the ‘90s. It has also been a source of inspiration in relation to composition techniques (extracting, inserting, timestretching, shapeshifting, looping) and thematic elements (ghosts and spectral apparition hovering the edges of the genres).

The performance is conceived as a choreography of samples and fragments. The samples are extracts which attempt to pass on a feeling of the missing whole by accounting for its specific qualities and textures. The fragments are remains of broken things, which find their purpose in pointing to an absence. Each sample or fragment is carefully placed in an act of care and devotion as much as an effort to accept and honor what escapes definition.

Premiere at The Danish National School for Performing Arts in May 2024

Dance and choreography: Alice Martucci

Sound consultants: Rafael Canete Fernandez and Joelle McGovern

Artistic consultants: Sanna Blennow and Andrea Deres

Link to video documentation: