This page [in progress] collects materials related to simularr artistic research residency in Palazzo Russo, San Cesario di Lecce, March-April 2024.
Rooms
The first action in the palace is to set up the workspaces. Each of us shall have a table to work on, in a place that feels comfortable. I have no doubt about the space I prefere.
The living room with the big sofa and the firefplace is too polished, and at the same time it feels like a corridor. People pass through it to reach the toilet, the terrace, kitchen, or their rooms. I wouldn't be comfortable working with people walking around me all the time.
Yes, I want to work in the room with the balcony on the main square. The balcony is facing south, therefore it's probably the room with the best light in the palace. Some days later, Andreas makes me notice that this is also the only room with a balcony. I didn't notice that at first. He explains me that originally this was the stateroom of the palace. Right next to the entrance, this is also the main hall of the building. It was meant for social activities and for receiving guests, who could admire the view on the town main square as soon as they were received in the palace.
Nowadays this room has a different funtion. The palace was divided into two independent sections, therefore the stateroom was turned into a space that serves both as living room and kitchen for the second apartment. The stateroom is in between two bedrooms, so probably much calmer than the livingroom-corridor. It has a small stove and a fridge, a reading corner with a wooden bench and two tiny armchairs. And I sleep next to it. I usually like to set up my working space in a hybrid environment - between stoves, sofas and beds. I like to keep my tools and instruments next to where I sleep. I'm quite sure I will feel comfortable in the stateroom.
Elena and Hanns also decide to work in the stateroom.
Rooms
The first action in the palace is to set up the workspaces. Each of us shall have a table to work on, in a place that feels comfortable. I have no doubt about the space I prefere.
The living room with the big sofa and the firefplace is too polished, and at the same time it feels like a corridor. People pass through it to reach the toilet, the terrace, kitchen, or their rooms. I wouldn't be comfortable working with people walking around me all the time.
Yes, I want to work in the room with the balcony on the main square. The balcony is facing south, therefore it's probably the room with the best light in the palace. Some days later, Andreas makes me notice that this is also the only room with a balcony. I didn't notice that at first. He explains me that originally this was the stateroom of the palace. Right next to the entrance, this is also the main hall of the building. It was meant for social activities and for receiving guests, who could admire the view on the town main square as soon as they were received in the palace.
Nowadays this room has a different funtion. The palace was divided into two independent sections, therefore the stateroom was turned into a space that serves both as living room and kitchen for the second apartment. The stateroom is in between two bedrooms, so probably much calmer than the livingroom-corridor. It has a small stove and a fridge, a reading corner with a wooden bench and two tiny armchairs. And I sleep next to it. I usually like to set up my working space in a hybrid environment - between stoves, sofas and beds. I like to keep my tools and instruments next to where I sleep. I'm quite sure I will feel comfortable in the stateroom.
Elena and Hanns also decide to work in the stateroom.
Tables
The tables game is a bit more complicated. We start moving tables around to try out different configurations. Tables are heavy, movements chaotic. Many people many tables. I like the old kitchen table, but it's so massive that I'm not sure I can fit my legs underneath. Look for some other table. Many people many tables. Yes, there is another table in the sisters' room. It's a simple plain white table, I could use it. Elena says ok, you take the white table I take the massive table. But then the massive table has a very uneven surface, so we shall look for something flat to cover it. Elena needs flatness. We consider a couple of options but nothing makes sense. Many people many tables. Ok, I will take the massive table and Elena will take the white plain flatness.
I ask Elena to help me moving the massive table a bit towards the balcony. I would like to have some more light on the desk. As we pick it up from two sides, the table top folds open, revealing a storage space. There is something inside the table. Two weird brass objects. Elena comments on them, but I can't remember what she said. We close the tabletop and put the desk next to the balcony.
The tables are set. The rooms are set. Everybody feels more or less comfortable, and we go back to some common activities. In the late afternoon I go back to the stateroom to start working. Before putting objects on the desk, I want to take one last look inside. I open the table again, and I really don't understand what it containts. It's two sort of tubes, made of brass, with some weird ornaments forming a kind of handle. The two tubes have the same shape. They are in bad conditions. One of them is squashed and bent at one end, almost broken. I take the good one out of the table and I put it on the floor. Maybe it reminds me of a telescope. One can grab it from the handle and point it to the sky. Or maybe it reminds me of some kind of weird musical instrument. A brass instrument? I leave it on the floor, and I start populating my desk with tools and electronics. A couple of hours later I think that, before the desk gets so crowded I can't open it anymore, I shall take out the second one. I ask Elena to help me with this, to make sure that tools and electronics don't fall from the desk while lifting the table top just about 20 centimeters. Yes, it's enough to reach the second telescope. Now the two telescopes lay on the floor next to my desk. I still have no idea what are these musical telescopic instruments, and I still don't know why I took them out of the big massive table, which was assigned to me because its uneven surface didn't match the need of a person that requires flatness.
Tables
The tables game is a bit more complicated. We start moving tables around to try out different configurations. Tables are heavy, movements chaotic. Many people many tables. I like the old kitchen table, but it's so massive that I'm not sure I can fit my legs underneath. Look for some other table. Many people many tables. Yes, there is another table in the sisters' room. It's a simple plain white table, I could use it. Elena says ok, you take the white table I take the massive table. But then the massive table has a very uneven surface, so we shall look for something flat to cover it. Elena needs flatness. We consider a couple of options but nothing makes sense. Many people many tables. Ok, I will take the massive table and Elena will take the white plain flatness.
I ask Elena to help me moving the massive table a bit towards the balcony. I would like to have some more light on the desk. As we pick it up from two sides, the table top folds open, revealing a storage space. There is something inside the table. Two weird brass objects. Elena comments on them, but I can't remember what she said. We close the tabletop and put the desk next to the balcony.
The tables are set. The rooms are set. Everybody feels more or less comfortable, and we go back to some common activities. In the late afternoon I go back to the stateroom to start working. Before putting objects on the desk, I want to take one last look inside. I open the table again, and I really don't understand what it containts. It's two sort of tubes, made of brass, with some weird ornaments forming a kind of handle. The two tubes have the same shape. They are in bad conditions. One of them is squashed and bent at one end, almost broken. I take the good one out of the table and I put it on the floor. Maybe it reminds me of a telescope. One can grab it from the handle and point it to the sky. Or maybe it reminds me of some kind of weird musical instrument. A brass instrument? I leave it on the floor, and I start populating my desk with tools and electronics. A couple of hours later I think that, before the desk gets so crowded I can't open it anymore, I shall take out the second one. I ask Elena to help me with this, to make sure that tools and electronics don't fall from the desk while lifting the table top just about 20 centimeters. Yes, it's enough to reach the second telescope. Now the two telescopes lay on the floor next to my desk. I still have no idea what are these musical telescopic instruments, and I still don't know why I took them out of the big massive table, which was assigned to me because its uneven surface didn't match the need of a person that requires flatness.
Roofs
It's almost midnight and everybody is their respective bedrooms. From left to right: Franziska and Andreas, Naya and Hanns, Miguel, Elena and Fulya. It's been a long day. I guess I shall be tired, but I'm still charged with a weird energy. The palace is so particular that it makes it hard to shut down my nervous system and go to sleep. I'm excited to live here for two weeks. I decide to have one last drink before going to sleep, but I don't know exactly where. I realise I haven't explored much the rooftop yet, so I pick two beers from the fridge and walk up. It is not a good idea - I mean, it was not a good idea with respect to my intention to wind down and going to sleep. I spend probably three hours on the rooftop, with just a couple of breaks to go to back to the fridge, or to the toilet. I play some music and I find myself jumping all along the rooftop. I'm jumping from one side to the other, and I can't wrap my head around all the different views that remind me of something I know very well. It's roofs, and roofs, and antennas, and cables, antennas, cables and unfinished staircases that don't lead anywhere. It's that sort of aesthetic chaos that one can only see in Italy. Maybe that's what these views remind me of, and I jump from one roof to the other, jumping left and right, trying to fill my eyes with roofs and antennas so that I can overdose and go to sleep. But I have a high tolerance. I keep jumping left and right, probably for a couple of hours. Only one week later I get to know that when somebody jumps on the rooftop, the whole palace can hear it, and I wonder whether somebody heard my overdose attempt on Monday. I guess probably not - everybody shall sleep after moving rooms, tables and roofs.
Roofs
It's almost midnight and everybody is their respective bedrooms. From left to right: Franziska and Andreas, Naya and Hanns, Miguel, Elena and Fulya. It's been a long day. I guess I shall be tired, but I'm still charged with a weird energy. The palace is so particular that it makes it hard to shut down my nervous system and go to sleep. I'm excited to live here for two weeks. I decide to have one last drink before going to sleep, but I don't know exactly where. I realise I haven't explored much the rooftop yet, so I pick two beers from the fridge and walk up. It is not a good idea - I mean, it was not a good idea with respect to my intention to wind down and going to sleep. I spend probably three hours on the rooftop, with just a couple of breaks to go to back to the fridge, or to the toilet. I play some music and I find myself jumping all along the rooftop. I'm jumping from one side to the other, and I can't wrap my head around all the different views that remind me of something I know very well. It's roofs, and roofs, and antennas, and cables, antennas, cables and unfinished staircases that don't lead anywhere. It's that sort of aesthetic chaos that one can only see in Italy. Maybe that's what these views remind me of, and I jump from one roof to the other, jumping left and right, trying to fill my eyes with roofs and antennas so that I can overdose and go to sleep. But I have a high tolerance. I keep jumping left and right, probably for a couple of hours. Only one week later I get to know that when somebody jumps on the rooftop, the whole palace can hear it, and I wonder whether somebody heard my overdose attempt on Monday. I guess probably not - everybody shall sleep after moving rooms, tables and roofs.
