UN POCO DI POLVERE

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with Lucas Cornejo Pasara, Nazira Karimi, Nona Inescu, Niccolò Masini 
curated by Nicola Guastamacchia and Nicola Nitido

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On Friday 9 October, In-ruins presents Un poco di polvere (A Little Dust) in Melfi and Venosa, the closing programme of its seventh edition. After five weeks of residency in the Vulture-Melfese area, Lucas Cornejo Pasara (Peru), Nazira Karimi (Kazakhstan), Nona Inescu (Romania) and Niccolò Masini (Italy) share with the public the projects developed in dialogue with the landscape, the archaeological heritage and the historical stratifications of the territory, through installations, screenings and site-specific interventions.

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The day opens at 11:00 AM in the Cisterns of Melfi Castle with What Returns in the Current by Nazira Karimi, a film that follows the Ofanto from its spring to the sea and looks at the river as a body that is not only natural but also geopolitical and mythical: a border, a memory and a story that flows, settles and returns. With the voice of singer Titta Schirò and the participation of students from the Liceo Artistico “Festa Campanile” in Melfi.

 

The programme continues in Venosa from 6:00 PM with a walking route through three venues in the town. At the Convent of Madonna delle Grazie, Nona Inescu presents She Who Smokes in the Middle: following in the footsteps of the renowned archaeologist Dinu Adameșteanu, the artist reached the sanctuary of the goddess Mefitis, the Italic deity of sulphurous vapours, fever and healing, and evokes her presence through a column of vapour rising from the convent’s well.

 

At 6:45 PM, at the former Elderly Centre, Lucas Cornejo Pasara presents Lazzaretto, a work of fiction that imagines the rediscovery of a young nineteenth-century naturalist’s research into the microbial life of Venosa’s ruins: slides, drawings, archaeological sections and sculptures compose an archaeology of contamination.

 

At 7:30 PM, in the Courtyard of Venosa Castle, Niccolò Masini presents Pulvis et umbra, a tombstone that rehumanises an archaeological find: the femur fragment of the Homo heidelbergensis of Notarchirico, to which the work gives a burial. A body that lived before empires and borders thus becomes a measure for questioning today’s freedom of movement. The videos by Nona Inescu and Nazira Karimi will also be screened on loop in the conference room of the National Archaeological Museum “Mario Torelli” in Venosa Castle, which will exceptionally remain open until midnight.

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In-ruins 2026 is promoted by Archeofuturo APS, in agreement with the Museums and Archaeological Parks of Melfi and Venosa and in partnership with the Municipality of Venosa. The project is realised under the patronage of the Municipality of Melfi and of Fondazione Italia Patria della Bellezza, in collaboration with Fondazione Elpis and in academic synergy with AHA Network (Archaeology-Heritage-Art Network) at UCL.

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We would like to thank the local partners who made this project possible:​

Marmeria Mastropasqua and the Accademia del Sol music school.

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We also extend our gratitude to all those who took part in our journey: Director Raffaella Bonaudo, Councillor Rossella Centrone, Directors Rosanna Calabrese and Erminia Lapadula, Director Sabrina Mutino, Dr Francesca Carinci, Carmen Vella, singer Antonietta Schirò, musician Annachiara Griesi, Nicola Mastropasqua, Vincent Berg, Renato Tummolo, and all the staff of the Museums and Archaeological Parks of Melfi and Venosa.