MALEBOLGE

The performance unfolds on the waterfront of Rovinj and is built around a gradual expansion of a collective voice. At the beginning, only a conductor and a single singer perform the song Povera patria by Franco Battiato.

After the first verse, another singer joins. Then another. Soon three voices become six, then ten, then twenty. The choir continues to grow as more singers enter the space. Different choirs from across Istria gradually merge into a single body of voices. The performance slowly transforms from an intimate duet into a massive collective chorus of nearly 190 singers. Throughout the entire action the same song is repeated. When all the voices are finally present, the choir performs the song once more together. After this final collective execution, the performance ends.

Because Rovinj is a bilingual city where Italian is widely spoken, passers-by begin to recognize the song and spontaneously join the singing. The boundary between performers and audience dissolves