Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, tells the story of a group of young people that escaped Florence during the black plague, taking refuge together in the countryside of Tuscany. For Boccaccio, the suspended time given by the plague and the condition of isolation provides the literary expedient for a moment of general rethinking. As the stories of the protagonists follow one another, the images, relational structures and values of society that would otherwise be lost are reconstructed. Similarly, the workshop is at the center of this global epidemic that we are experiencing within the same landscape.
Today in this rare moment of suspension we find ourselves with the possibility of an island. Situated within the countryside of Tuscany, a site with history of both Decameron and radical works of Italian design, we now reactivate the countryside as a space of transversal collective productive forces. The two-week visiting school will develop an experimental episode that responds to this unprecedented moment in time – addressing issues such as isolation, transition and temporality. The workshop seeks to produce new tools, practices and rituals that reflect on this particular moment in time.
