Introduction to the Project, by Valentina Tebala

Throughout 2026, Progetto Ulteriore presents exhibitions, educational programmes, and public events involving museums, galleries, and public and private institutions. The project unfolds across the territory from Reggio Calabria to Locri, engaging multiple locations within the Metropolitan City and the inland areas of Aspromonte. Cataforìo was selected as one of the three sites for the open calls through which artists working in the field of visual arts were invited to engage with diverse contexts, taking the festival’s theme as their starting point. The aim is to foster different forms of interaction between artistic research, place, and community.

Each open call is named after a constellation visible in the Mediterranean sky: LYRA took place at the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria; ANDROMEDA at the National Archaeological Museum and Park of Locri Epizefiri; and CASSIOPEIA is the name of the residency held in Cataforìo from 8 to 14 June 2026.

The village of Cataforìo was chosen in recognition of its value and commitment as a breeding ground for talent and a fertile environment for creativity. It stands out for its vibrant network of local associations, its identity as a place where a millennia-old history remains alive and dynamic, and as a territory that resists the passing of time without standing still, keeping pace through a strategy entirely its own: the passing on of knowledge and tradition.

Danilo Sciorilli lived in the village for seven days and was deeply fascinated by the ancient settlement of Motta Sant’Agata, the landscape of the Fiumara, and the suspended atmosphere of the abandoned sports field. He was equally struck by Mrs Flavia’s account of the art of weaving on the loom, as well as by the stories of the young people who continue the dance and musical traditions of the valley in the most authentic and sincere way possible.

In this way, the artist succeeded in establishing a genuine connection with the place and its inhabitants: HOPE / TRUST – FEAR / DUST is the result of that encounter.

HOPE / TRUST / FEAR / DUST, by Danilo Sciorilli

During my residency in Cataforìo, I kept a visual diary—a collection of images and drawings inspired by the village and by the people who inhabit it, whom I met, observed, and engaged with throughout my stay. Once they were completed, I realised that the twenty-two drawings seemed to be arranged in two opposing groups: on one side, passing on, teaching, remembering, carrying forward, leaving a trace; on the other, disappearing, being forgotten, becoming ruins, being replaced, turning into fossils.

Some time ago, I read that humankind is the species that will inhabit this planet for the shortest geological span of time, and that thought has never left me. It follows me like a nightmare in which I struggle to distinguish what truly has meaning from what does not. Nature and animals will outlive us. We will become remnants that perhaps other forms of life will one day speak about. And yet, despite this, we continue to feel the need not to disappear. The people I met during this residency were no exception.

I decided to arrange the drawings I made in a precise order and accompany them with a map, also drawn by me, so that anyone can walk through Cataforìo in search of the real counterparts of these signs, marking their locations and retracing, through my eyes, the thoughts that accompanied me during those days.

HOPE / TRUST takes its meaning from a mural I discovered among the village streets, while FEAR / DUST is the title of the two-channel video work that concludes the journey I have created through this project.

The final video is not simply melancholic.

It is a defeat.

I walk towards the gate of the abandoned sports field.

I shoot.

The ball hits the post.

End.

Loop.

In the animated video that dialogues with the first, the protagonist is instead the bee I encountered as soon as I arrived.

The bee circles.

Around itself.

It does not fly.

It keeps tracing the same circle on the ground.

Loop.

Neither of them gets anywhere.

There is not even despair.

There is simply the acknowledgement that, between what we hope for and what we choose to believe in, what ultimately remains are traces.

And, in the end, that is precisely what this entire project is about.

Not the triumph of memory.

Not the triumph of oblivion.

It is about what remains.

About what we hope will endure.

Introduction to the Project, by Valentina Tebala

Throughout 2026, Progetto Ulteriore presents exhibitions, educational programmes, and public events involving museums, galleries, and public and private institutions. The project unfolds across the territory from Reggio Calabria to Locri, engaging multiple locations within the Metropolitan City and the inland areas of Aspromonte. Cataforìo was selected as one of the three sites for the open calls through which artists working in the field of visual arts were invited to engage with diverse contexts, taking the festival’s theme as their starting point. The aim is to foster different forms of interaction between artistic research, place, and community.

Each open call is named after a constellation visible in the Mediterranean sky: LYRA took place at the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria; ANDROMEDA at the National Archaeological Museum and Park of Locri Epizefiri; and CASSIOPEIA is the name of the residency held in Cataforìo from 8 to 14 June 2026.

The village of Cataforìo was chosen in recognition of its value and commitment as a breeding ground for talent and a fertile environment for creativity. It stands out for its vibrant network of local associations, its identity as a place where a millennia-old history remains alive and dynamic, and as a territory that resists the passing of time without standing still, keeping pace through a strategy entirely its own: the passing on of knowledge and tradition.

Danilo Sciorilli lived in the village for seven days and was deeply fascinated by the ancient settlement of Motta Sant’Agata, the landscape of the Fiumara, and the suspended atmosphere of the abandoned sports field. He was equally struck by Mrs Flavia’s account of the art of weaving on the loom, as well as by the stories of the young people who continue the dance and musical traditions of the valley in the most authentic and sincere way possible.

In this way, the artist succeeded in establishing a genuine connection with the place and its inhabitants: HOPE / TRUST – FEAR / DUST is the result of that encounter.

HOPE / TRUST / FEAR / DUST, by Danilo Sciorilli

During my residency in Cataforìo, I kept a visual diary—a collection of images and drawings inspired by the village and by the people who inhabit it, whom I met, observed, and engaged with throughout my stay. Once they were completed, I realised that the twenty-two drawings seemed to be arranged in two opposing groups: on one side, passing on, teaching, remembering, carrying forward, leaving a trace; on the other, disappearing, being forgotten, becoming ruins, being replaced, turning into fossils.

Some time ago, I read that humankind is the species that will inhabit this planet for the shortest geological span of time, and that thought has never left me. It follows me like a nightmare in which I struggle to distinguish what truly has meaning from what does not. Nature and animals will outlive us. We will become remnants that perhaps other forms of life will one day speak about. And yet, despite this, we continue to feel the need not to disappear. The people I met during this residency were no exception.

I decided to arrange the drawings I made in a precise order and accompany them with a map, also drawn by me, so that anyone can walk through Cataforìo in search of the real counterparts of these signs, marking their locations and retracing, through my eyes, the thoughts that accompanied me during those days.

HOPE / TRUST takes its meaning from a mural I discovered among the village streets, while FEAR / DUST is the title of the two-channel video work that concludes the journey I have created through this project.

The final video is not simply melancholic.

It is a defeat.

I walk towards the gate of the abandoned sports field.

I shoot.

The ball hits the post.

End.

Loop.

In the animated video that dialogues with the first, the protagonist is instead the bee I encountered as soon as I arrived.

The bee circles.

Around itself.

It does not fly.

It keeps tracing the same circle on the ground.

Loop.

Neither of them gets anywhere.

There is not even despair.

There is simply the acknowledgement that, between what we hope for and what we choose to believe in, what ultimately remains are traces.

And, in the end, that is precisely what this entire project is about.

Not the triumph of memory.

Not the triumph of oblivion.

It is about what remains.

About what we hope will endure.