Faber. Un'Opera per le Cartiere di Fabriano
On Friday, November 10th, FABER: An Opera for the Fabriano Paper Mills was inaugurated at the Supermarket of the Miliani Paper Mills. Directed by Luisa Eugeni and promoted by the Fedrigoni Fabriano Foundation in collaboration with the FABRIANO paper mill, this multimedia work focuses on the gestures of "making paper" - from the oldest techniques to those that still survive - conceived by visual artist Luisa Eugeni during the 2023 Artist Residency.
The performance, featuring multi-channel video installations, music, and opera singing, is set against the backdrop of the abandoned environments of the historic paper mills, digitally relocated within the exhibition rooms, ideally welcoming the production cycle once again. The artist captured the gestures of "making paper" in a video: the repetitive movements of the master papermaker immersing the mold in the vat to produce handmade paper, the "ponitore" who, along with the "bardasciu," removes the still-wet sheet from the mold to the felt, the seamstress passing the needle and argentana thread through the mold's fabric to secure the watermarks or metal screens, and the counter repeatedly counting the sheets five by five or in a fan, creating an unprecedented dance of arms, hands, and fingers that forms the basis for a live performance.
The gestures were transmitted to the performers, musicians, and dancers, who wore paper sculpture costumes for the live show. All the bodies acted simultaneously on a motor, auditory, and visual level, in an orchestrated dialogue; the sound of the Giano river, the pounding of the hammers, and the creaking of the press were mixed with the singers' voices. The music, specially composed for the performance and inspired by the finale of Gioachino Rossini's William Tell, was interpreted through computer and synthesizer.
The artist opened her residency space, inviting other international artists to collectively create a transmedia narrative based on the gestural heritage of paper production: Paolo Casali (composer), Gabrio Gabrielli (dancer), Anna Jäger (dancer), Manuela Molinelli (mezzo-soprano), Janis Elias Müller (sound designer), Claudio Rocchi (tenor), Antonio Stella (dancer), and Raphael Wutz (fashion designer).
The seamstress, master papermakers, watermark specialists, counters, and women from the Paper Mill's Assembly Department were some of the key figures interviewed by Luisa Eugeni during the residency. The aim was to project the cultural and historical value of Fabriano paper into the future through the power of art, highlighting not just the excellence of the artifact but the craftsmanship of the people who work on it and their specific gestures.
This was made possible thanks to the collaboration of several papermakers who reenacted the individual production phases in front of the camera, which were then transmitted to the performers. Special thanks to Riccardo Biagelli, Agostino Biocco, Rita Catufa, Enrico Cimarra, Chezia Di Pasqua, Mariella Iaiani, Daniela Pompili, Bruno Sebastianelli, Carla Sorci, Sandro Tiberi, and Maria Francesca Tobaldi.
--> To watch the live performance video (excerpt), click here.
--> To watch the trailer of the FABER inauguration, click here.
--> To watch the presentation video of the project "FABER. An Opera for the Fabriano Paper Mills" by Luisa Eugeni, click here.
--> To see photos of the artist residency, click here.
