Ghesc Open Week 2026 | July 27 – August 2
From July 27 to August 2, 2026, the Ghesc Village Laboratory will host ECO. Open-Air Living Laboratory, a project promoted by Fondazione Canova ETS as part of BLITZART – SensibilizzArte, funded by the Interreg VI-A Italy–Switzerland 2021–2027 Cooperation Programme.
The initiative offers a week of experiences exploring the relationship between cultural heritage, landscape and contemporary creative practices, transforming the village into an open space for research, learning and participation.
For one week, international students, artists, researchers, musicians, craftspeople and members of the local community will live and work together in the village, sharing knowledge, hands-on experience and meaningful encounters. Traditional stone-building workshops, artistic residencies, site-specific installations, concerts, talks, workshops, guided hikes and shared moments will shape a programme that invites visitors to discover new ways of experiencing and interpreting the mountain landscape.
ECO was born from the desire to give something back to the mountains for all they continue to teach us. It envisions Ghesc as a place of experimentation, care and connection, where the knowledge of skilled hands meets contemporary artistic research, and where built heritage becomes an opportunity to imagine a new future for rural and mountain communities.
The full programme of activities is available below. Registration is required for selected events via the following link.
Tuesday, July 28
10:00 AM | Landscape Imprints Workshop
Anthotype is an early photographic printing technique developed in the mid-19th century. It uses pigments extracted from plants to create light-sensitive emulsions that, through exposure to sunlight, transfer images onto paper and fabric.
Led by Caterina Pioletti, participants will explore the surroundings of Ghesc in search of objects and sounds that tell the story of the landscape, creating a collective artwork that will become part of the stage design and soundscape for the evening concert.
7:00 PM | Risonanze Future
A musical performance conceived and performed by Irene Diez (accordion) and Petra Valtellina (flute), a member of the Ear to the Earth collective.
The duo presents a programme that weaves together improvisation, original compositions, and the sounds recorded during the morning workshop.
9:30 PM | The Sound of the Repubblica dell’Ossola
A research project by Timm Kornelius, Ivan Liuzzo, Luca Longa, René Thoma, Simone Spampinato, and Uliana Kozachynska.
Through interviews, field recordings, and documentary filmmaking, the project creates an archive of stories, rituals, and acoustic memories, offering a sonic portrait of the former Repubblica dell’Ossola, where listening becomes a way of exploring the region’s cultural memory.
Admission by voluntary donation.
Wednesday, July 29
maninellaTerra | offcutsMatter
The maninellaTerra | offcutsMatter open-air workshop focuses on the creation of temporary seating and gathering structures for the Ghesc Open Week and future events in the village.
Working alongside the international Campus participants, the workshop transforms reclaimed construction offcuts into functional public elements through processes of sorting, cleaning, and reuse.
More than a hands-on building experience, the workshop invites participants to reflect on the potential of reclaimed materials as a design methodology. Innovation in architecture and design does not always depend on new technologies or new materials; it can also emerge from rethinking existing resources, giving them new forms, meanings, and purposes.
Friday, July 31
4:00 PM A Conversation with the Poet Chandra Livia Candiani
Drawing inspiration from Pane del bosco, Chandra Livia Candiani invites us into a reflection on our relationship with the natural world:
..To ask the forest for permission to dwell within it…
7:00 PM | Emersioni dal Verde (Emerging from Green) – Performance
Emersioni dal Verde is a performative exploration of the relationship between humans and the plant world, inviting participants to rediscover a bond that has always connected them as part of the same living story.
10:30 AM – 12:30 PM | pregando bosco
pregando bosco is a site-specific walking workshop that approaches the forest as a place of poetic reawakening—a practice of attention, imagination, and presence.
Guided by poetry and essays about the forest, participants will walk through the landscape, collecting natural traces to create small ephemeral shelters that mark our passage.
Collettivo Scafandra is a poetic research collective founded in Venice in 2023. Through site-specific writing practices, editorial projects, and installations, it explores language as a transformative and relational act, investigating places together with the communities that inhabit them. The collective also leads creative writing workshops with emerging poets and collaborates with organisations including Microclima and Fondazione CRT.
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM | Manuale della Consapevolezza (Manual of Awareness)
A workshop exploring the concept of dwelling, led by Maria Elena Ricciuto.
To identify with a place means to care for it every day. For this reason, we invite local associations to join a collective dialogue on the meaning of dwelling, led by artist Maria Elena Ricciuto.
Through her artistic research, Maria Elena Ricciuto explores the idea of home as both a physical and a mental space, where memory and the traces left by dwelling become tools for investigating our relationship with the environment. Her work embraces an introspective and phenomenological approach, exploring forms of presence and awareness. She is the artistic director of the project Le Fonticelle and works at the MACTE Museum, where she is involved in exhibitions and educational programmes.
9:00 PM – 1:00 AM | Electronic Music Showcase
Curated by IO Multimedia
Line-up:
Khyrie · Seelva · Sally Bumps · Attar + NoNa · ORMa + Della · lúmina
Site Specific Installation
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM | Frequenze Sepolte
Sound installation by Matteo Valentini
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM | Selenite
Installation by Alessandro Pugno
Sutura Alpina
Land art installation by Elhaz
Bosco Secondario
Land art installation by Unsolid
Saturday, August 1
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Ethereal Yoga
Ethereal Yoga is a sensory journey that brings together yoga, meditation, and sound healing in a single immersive experience.
The experience, curated by Francesca and Danilo, features the collaboration of Hatha Yoga teacher Valentina Bresciani, whose gentle approach guides participants through mindful movement and deep body awareness.
Programme:
Initial relaxation
Yoga postures accompanied by an immersive soundscape
Closing meditation
9:30 AM | Guided Walk: Discovering Historic Stone Architecture (4 km)
Led by Francesco Krebs
12:00 PM
Arrival in Ghesc
Shared lunch and guided tour of the village with Maurizio Cesprini
Return to Solaro, Ossola, in the afternoon (4 km).
As part of the Interreg VI-A Italy–Switzerland project BLITZART – SensibilizzArte, Fondazione Canova developed a training programme for nature guides, providing them with the knowledge and tools to interpret and communicate the cultural and landscape values of historic villages and traditional stone architecture.
This guided walk, departing from Solaro in Ossola, will be led by Francesco Krebs, one of the young professionals who completed the training programme.
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Gesti Vegetali (Vegetal Gestures) – Art Workshop
Gesti Vegetali is an invitation to reconnect with one’s deepest self through artistic practice.
Led by Mich.i and Barchetta di Carta, the workshop combines readings, natural pigments, and clay in a sensory experience where individual emotions come together to create a collective artwork.
4:00 PM | Sangue Verde (Green Blood) – Movement Workshop
Sangue Verde is a movement workshop that invites participants to embrace curiosity, deep listening, and experimentation through the body.
4:00 PM | Sutura Alpina (Alpine Suture) – Participatory Performance
Led by Elhaz
7:00–8:00 PM | To Grow – Collective Concert by Duo Pollo
The concert emerges from invisible roots, seeds waiting to sprout, and sounds rising from the landscape.
Duo Pollo brings together voice and harp in a musical dialogue inspired by the silent intelligence of plants.
An invitation to listen to what connects us, to inhabit the same space, and to allow ourselves to be transformed by nature.
3:00–5:30 PM | Archivio di Paesaggio (Landscape Archive) – Family Workshop
Led by Valentina and Mattia
Archivio di Paesaggio is a creative workshop designed for children aged 5–10, inviting them to explore the local landscape and connect with nature.
How does it work?
Participants will embark on a short outdoor exploration through a series of small “discovery missions,” collecting natural materials, observing and documenting their findings, and finally creating a collective installation together.
Children must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian for the entire duration of the workshop.
9:00–10:00 PM | Participatory Performance – Vien Vicina (Come Closer)
Where have the fireflies gone? Who still remembers them?
Vien Vicina is a nighttime walk for children and adults in search of fireflies—a symbolic journey of observation, imagination, and attentive listening to the landscape.
Participants are invited to bring a flashlight to follow both real and imagined traces of light, with the walk punctuated by small acts of sowing along the way.
9:00 PM – 1:00 AM | Eureka DJ Set
Eureka Lab APS is a cultural association that develops projects bringing together music, art, gastronomy, and well-being practices, promoting the local territory through shared experiences.
During Ghesc Open Week, the collective will curate the closing evening with a DJ set conceived as a moment of gathering, celebration, and exchange, in harmony with the spirit of the artistic residency.
We look forward to welcoming you to Ghesc for a week of encounters, discovery, art, and hands-on building. Participation in the events is free; advance registration is required for selected activities via the dedicated link.
