Valentina Medda: HEALING INTERVENTIONS FOR DOMESTIC WOUNDS

performative intervention
(Italy)

Built in 1898, Stara elektrarna (The Old Power Station) provided electricity for Ljubljana over a span of six decades before it was left deserted for a while and then used as a storage space. For the last 19 years Stara elektrarna has been home to a variety of contemporary performing arts. The power generator replacement last year resulted in major construction-demolition works in the immediate surrounding area, which shook its very foundations – something that artists rehearsing for the 25th edition of the festival will have remembered vividly.
In Healing Interventions for Domestic Wounds Valentina Medda uses acupuncture as a nurturing gesture: She will use acupuncture needles to cover symbolic wounds inscribed within the domestic walls of Stara elektrarna and traumas inflicted upon its space, which carries beauty and transcendence as well as occasional moments of bitterness and hardship. This way Medda will build a bridge between the organic and the inorganic matter, the space and its users, the past as arising from the traces of usage and the present day.
Wounds inflicted upon Stara elektrarna may not be visible to the eye, but since acupuncture (or, better yet, nurturing care) holds immense healing potential we firmly believe that Medda’s intervention will allow Stara mestna elektrarna to provide a home to art for the 125 years to come.

30 minutes

Author: Valentina Medda
Local producer: Špela Kopitar

Photo by: Claudia Borogia