READY THOUGHT
Virtual Artist Residency
With Nicolò Minisi
October 2025 – June 2026
An artist residency within the context of the Tramontana Network project, co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe program. Ready Thought is a project based on the sound archive of Binaural Nodar Digital Archive, located in the Portuguese Viseu Dão Lafões region and that is part of the Tramontana Network.
The work takes the form of a site-specific installation and a one-off artist’s book. The work challenges the language barrier between people, treating misunderstanding as a potential generative space from which something new can emerge. The phrases that make up the work arise from listening to the sound archive and are reformulated through assonance: sound is transposed into language, losing its original communicative function and opening up to new possibilities. The phrases are printed using white acrylic stencils on felt—a material that lends a sculptural dimension to the soundscape. The book consists of an iron box containing 20 phrases from the ethnographic interviews.
For the site-specific installation, a selection of these phrases is made based on the location. The felt is then cut to follow the perimeter of the site; once detached, it becomes a cast of the site that can be repositioned in other contexts. The work reinterprets and connects the site and sound, creating a tension between what is heard and what is read.
The second component of the Ready Thought project is a permanent public sculpture. The installation Sotto (Subsoil) consists of a manual excavation carried out in a mountainous area of the Viseu Dão Lafões region. The excavation, initially traced as a simple geometric shape, develops in direct relation to the terrain, adapting to its variations and intersecting, where present, existing root systems. The roots emerge partially, still immersed in the earth, making visible what normally remains hidden underground. Ashes from the 2024 fires are reintroduced into the excavation, in a gesture that plays with restitution, deposition, and potential fertilization. This gesture may open the possibility for the soil to host new life. The work does not rise into the space but extends downward, eluding full view. What remains is a depression in the ground, emerging roots, ash scattered irregularly, and an open question: What continues to exist beneath the surface?
Nicolò Minisi, born in Genoa in 2000 and now based in Milan, is an emerging Italian artist whose practice spans painting and visual arts. He earned both his BA and MA from the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA) in Milan, where he graduated with top honors. Minisi’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions across Italy, including the 2025 solo show “Tales from the Underground” in Lecce and notable group exhibitions such as “Recombinant Ecologies” at Torino’s Parco d’Arte Vivente and “Voicing the Archive” at Triennale Milano. His art explores themes resonant with contemporary ecological and urban concerns, often engaging with site-specific contexts and experimental curatorial projects.
Alongside his exhibitions, Minisi has participated in prestigious residency programs like Florìda in Genoa, deepening his engagement with collaborative and interdisciplinary art practices. His work is held in collections including Studio Florìda, Società Umanitaria, and PAV. Minisi has contributed to publications and critical dialogues within the art community, collaborating on projects with established curators and artists. His involvement in workshops and performances, such as those at the Venice Biennale and Fondazione Antonio Ratti, further highlights his dynamic role in Italy’s contemporary art scene.
