Ilenia Romano was hosted by Hong Kong Art Festival for two weeks in December 2019 inside the Cattle Depot Lab, a residence and training space.
The artist has developed a programme of practical exchange with local artists, aimed at sharing her artistic methodologies and poetics and confronting the sensitivity of the public and participants in the work. The journey was shared with Luna Cenere, also a guest on the same dates and with the same activity proposal.
Every single step taken in Hong Kong has been a source of great inspiration and reflection on my personal and artistic path. I received countless stimuli from a place where tradition and novelty, technology and craftsmanship, nature and artifice, West and East coexist. A place that at this moment gives off very strong revolutionary vibrations.
The exchange experience with local dancers in the context of the Hong Kong Arts Festival was very positive and marked by mutual “elasticity”. In fact, I articulated my workshop sessions in relation to a daily variable schedule and attendance and I remodeled them every time based on the number and specificity of the dancers with whom I worked with. In each one, I found generosity in getting involved and a great confidence in adhering to the experiences I suggested. I managed to find harmony and effective communication channels with all of them and with someone in particular I discovered a remarkable artistic affinity.
The confrontation with the audience during a brief final post-sharing debate was useful to me as it gave back to me (through questions and considerations put in place by artists, observers and organizers) the contours, complexity and essence of the artistic investigation that I’m interested in carrying on.
