Areas of work
The Collective operates as a fluid and rhizomatic space of creation, open to multiple authorships. Amigdala's work develops from an interweaving of different knowledge and languages, which include vocal research, writing, civic design, spatial dramaturgy, and the choreography of bodies. The various fields of work are deeply intertwined and contaminate each other.
Artistic Creation
Collettivo Amigdala creates multidisciplinary artistic productions with a situated and participatory approach, activating artistic practices rooted in places and communities. The works often emerge from an exploration of the places and the stories that inhabit them, offering new perspectives through the language of sound, voice, body, and words. Amigdala's projects take the form of performances, public interventions, soundscapes, walkscapes, and collective actions. The choir is a central element: a musical and political device, space for listening and collective building. Walking is another central word in Amigdala's creation, both as a methodology and as an easthetical form. Amigdala explores the possibilities of art as a tool for social and spatial transformation, redefining the relationship between aesthetics, activism, and participation.
Place-Based Research
The core aspect of the practices and projects promoted by Collettivo Amigdala is the commitment to the territory, understanding it as the interaction between the environment and human action. In a constant dimension of listening, analysis, historical deepening, and relationship with communities from a co-creation perspective, Amigdala implements various forms of action-research: being present in the territory; weaving networks; preserving memory; conducting research and dissemination; intercepting transformative imaginaries. The methodology is detailed in the following document link
Artistic and Cultural Curatorship
Amigdala’s curatorial practices unfold through the Periferico Festival (since 2008), the summer reviews in OvestLab's courtyard (VersoSera, since 2017), and various public programs connected to large-scale events.
The collective operates in the curatorial field through short- and medium-term residencies, co-productions, and the hosting of artworks and performances that actively involve individuals or communities. These are often accompanied by public encounters and performative devices.
The context in which horizontal curatorship is most actively explored is Periferico, where Amigdala has experimented with models that redistribute decision-making power (as in the 2019 edition) or redefine curatorial roles beyond programming, such as through the Protocol for Situated and Participatory Artistic Practices.
Other curatorial forms are currently under continuous experimentation.
Learning and Transmission
Amigdala Collective fosters training and research practices involving children, adolescents, and adults, understood as the transmission and exchange of knowledge while maintaining a situated and horizontal perspective. It adapts methods according to the unique characteristics of the individuals and groups involved. It implements ways to accommodate needs and desires, preferring this concept to inclusion, which implies normalization. It opens an experiential space for experimentation where everyone can engage both in success and failure, sharing personal and collective milestones through feedbacks.
ph Davide Piferi de Simoni, performance Tempo Rubato - Walk with me di Strijbos & Van Rijswijk, Cimitero Monumentale di San Cataldo, Modena, Periferico 2023
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