Magic à la Cigale

“This is a magic spell, a prayer, a mantra, an exorcism. Why? What do I need? Maybe a blessing. A ritual for auspicious pauses. So they can be meaningful again, and free us from the splitting pulls of productivity and distraction. So I can invite others with me in these pauses, to dissect the world and build meaning together.

I started thinking about pause a few months ago. It followed a year of work and a lifetime of interest in the question of labor. How we labor, what for and why. What forms of labor are recognized by our society and how they are valued. And then I began to wonder, what the time we have outside of employment is for and how we make it worthwhile. Might idle time be generative? These are some of the preoccupations that led me to this research and eventually to Montegiovi.”

Benedetta Castrioto explores the landscape of labor as a geography of possibility in her essay Magic à la Cigale written during her 2025 La Baldi Residency.

Anitra “Nini” Accetturo (May 2022 La Baldi Residency) asked herself Susanne F. Fincher’s question “How can we create a sacred space into which we can invite the Self?” Here’s what came to her high in the beech forests atop Monte Amiata—the largest and highest lava dome of an old volcano in southern Tuscany. Monte Amiata holds the center of the landscape here. It is ringed by medieval villages including Montegiovi where La Baldi Residents live. Read more…

CULTIVATE grant winner MIA EVE ROLLOW presents an immersive video installation exhibition at VisArts July 7 - October 25. Featuring performances made in collaboration with individuals and communities in Mexico, India, and Palestine over a ten year period. Bodies move across the land powered by poetic acts of resistance and transformation. Read more…