Among Roses and Violets / To the Cosmos

To the Cosmos  is a choral reading aloud of the book Tra le rose e le viole [Among Roses and Violets] by Porpora Marcasciano.
To the Cosmos  is a workshop practice, a collective reading experience, a public sharing, a participatory reading.
To the Cosmos  is conceived and created by Fiorenza Menni together with workshop participants.
To the Cosmos  was born in Bologna in 2022 with the support of the Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna.

Among Roses and Violets, Reading to the Cosmos
choral reading aloud workshop
curated by Fiorenza Menni

During this workshop, the experience of choral reading is deepened. The focus of the work is on: practices of pronunciation techniques, processes of emotional and physical organisation for vocal emission and for the exaltation and control of meanings, narration and feelings. The voice, which transcends the animal verse, and the words, which go beyond the necessity of recall and are organised to narrate, are placed in organic contiguity with the presence of the body on the planet.
The entire workshop takes place around an ensemble reading of the book Among Roses and Violets by Porpora Marcasciano.
The workshop is led by Fiorenza Menni, with the precious assistance of Luce Santambrogio. Special thanks to Valentina Greco.

To the Cosmos
choral reading aloud of
Among Roses and Violets. The history and stories of transvestites and transsexuals by Porpora Marcasciano
curated by Fiorenza Menni
together with workshop participants

Porpora Marcasciano, a “living archive” of the Italian transsexual movement, starts from herself and her companions to pass on the history of the struggles, both individual and collective, to claim her own identity. The intimate dimension of the memoir goes hand in hand with the social denunciation of those who fight to be themselves, outside the imposition of a supposed norm propagated as ‘natural’, claiming the right not to be normal.
In this choral reading – conceived and created by Fiorenza Menni together with participants of the workshop – the voice transcends the animal verse and the words, which go beyond the necessity of recall and are organised to narrate again, are placed in organic contiguity with the presence of the body on the planet.
During the reading To the Cosmos, the spectators can move freely in space, rest while listening, stay in the room according to their own pleasure.