ARTIST RESIDENCY AT THE ARCHIVES: FLAVIA MONFRINI
Virtual residency
Abruzzo Digital Archive
Abruzzo
Italy
July – October 2026
This is an initiative of Bambun as part of the “Creative Europe Tramontana IV” project.
u biviu – oblivium
Performance by and with Flavia Monfrini
Final presentation of an artist residency carried out as part of the Artist Residencies at Digital Archives call of the Tramontana Network.
The performance will be presented on the afternoon of 31 October 2026 at the Sala Polivalente in Fano Adriano (TE), as part of the Tramontana Festival Toscana-Abruzzo 2026, within the programme of the Festival’s Abruzzo leg.
The research draws on sources from the Abruzzo Digital Archive, in particular the sound recordings of the Spitilli Archive and texts from the Nisii and Jobbi Archives. It does not focus on a specific historical period: just like the archival research, the dramaturgy unfolds transversally across time. At its core lies one thematic crux, getting lost. Agro-pastoral culture holds valuable knowledge about orientation, sensory attention, and awareness of the body and the present moment, in an age when we are less and less able to let go of our certainties.
“Transhumance is an anthropological theme that runs through centuries of agro-pastoral journeys. The regions of central Italy are still its beating heart: encyclopaedias of identity that have traced metamorphic paths across the body of the earth, inseparably bound to the life and traditions of Apennine villages. How can we approach the electric and delicate encounter with these possible worlds today, as transhumance wavers between the pursuit of bureaucratic recognition and gradual oblivion?
The research begins with the documents of the Abruzzo Digital Archive. It then draws on the valuable contributions gathered in several Abruzzo villages that are still deeply connected to this practice. From there, the performance proposes a journey through the doubts and gaps that testimonies of transhumance, from the last century to the present day, can raise.
The crossroads, ‘u biviu’, becomes the dense and mysterious drama of a life, that of the shepherds, shaped by movement. There is the fear of being forgotten, or of forgetting. There is the constant, thrilling temptation to soar above reality and cross into other dimensions, to take refuge in poetry, to flee, to become soul and animal.”
Flavia Monfrini, born in Catania in 1997, is an actress, playwright and theatre educator. She holds a Master’s degree in Modern Philology from the University of Catania. She trained with directors and teachers including César Brie, Roberto Latini, Davide Enia, Gabriele Vacis and Andrea Lapi. With Lapi, in 2016, she co-founded the Lucipicuraru Company, where she has worked as actress and co-author on productions such as CUNFINI – Sicilia e Grande Guerra, HABITUS and COSI. DUCI., a finalist studio at the 2022 Dante Cappelletti Prize. She is co-founder of the EROSIONI Cultural Association and leads theatre workshops for children and young people. For several years she has also been working on community dramaturgy and socio-cultural projects with the Trame di Quartiere Cooperative in Catania’s San Berillo neighbourhood. Since 2023, supported by a research grant from the Tokyo Foundation’s Sylff Programme, she has been conducting independent research on identity narratives in the inland areas of Sicily, weaving together anthropology and expressive languages.