Mara Maglione. SOS-JOB, 2009

During January and February Mara Maglione worked with the Rauma Theatre Group. At the CareeStart fair teenagers did a whole day performance SOS-JOB for inviting people to Rauma city stand. At the Lönnström Art Museum staircase Rauma Theatre Group performed collaborative Going up & falling down when audience joined Maglione’s Sotto sopra dinner table on a third floorl

Maglione writes:

“Looking out of the windows I discover that last night snowed. Today is a very beautiful sunny day! I run out…just one step out of the door and I slide down. I lie on the ground, I look the Finland opposite down and feel the chilly snow on my skin.

One of the things that surprised me more when I arrived here in Finland was the capacity to change completely very soon. The landscape change totally. One day is white at all. The day after the snow is gone that so I cant’ recognize the way to go back at home. One day it is very bright and shining, another day is dark and silent. One day the sea is sea, one day the sea is a nice icy place where skiing and driving. Yesterday I walked on the sea…it’s amazing!

In the time that I spent here I lived same “falling down” experiences. It was a process already started in Italy, but here I had the right concentration and the great inspiration to go deeper inside it. I got some problems from Italy, from my work, from my health, a lot of time I was like on the snow ground. In Chinese the word crisis have two very different and interesting translations. One is very similar with ours like a time of intense difficulty, trouble of danger. The other one is opportunity, great moment, change possibility.

Going up and falling down will be the topic of my exhibition. But in the way that you can’t recognize anymore when you go up or when you go down.

My students will roll on the museum stairs going up and down like in a loop movement. Every time they will have a different feeling rolling up or down: some times is easy, some times is painful, some times is very slow, other time is funny. One feeling to go up and another one to go down…

In my performance I like to invite every one of you to have a dinner with me. In Italy the dinner is a very magic and important moment in every family and in every social context. It’s our meeting moment the right and the best to talk and share with the other people. In this our dinner we will not share food, but our feed will be ideas and thoughts.

I will sit on a table prepared with some glasses, white plates and black markers (pens) instead of the spoons, forks and knifes. The idea is that the people can sit but not speak. They have to express them opinions drawing on the white plates. The draws topic will be the up and down.

The people are free to sit and draw something, change them plate with the others, leave the table, continue the draw of another person, etc. I like the idea that the table is very busy and active: the people have to change our plate more time, than share as more as they like.

This change plate action is very important for two reasons: firstly we are there to sharing something; but the main reason is that every time we change the plate we lose the up and the down. The plate, as circle, has not any top or bottom, than every one will decide every time what is his “new” up or his “new” down. Every time is a new opportunity to change, to tip over every thing!”