Signal – dall’altra parte

For Periferico Festival in Modena (Italy) we transformed our landscape opera ‘Signal’ into the city streets of Modena. The city is quite literally cut in half by a railway line. On the one side the old city - beautiful architecture and monumental squares. On the other side the perifico, suburban Modena. Where is the “other” side? ‘Qual é l’altra parte?’ And why does this feel like another place, even though it’s in the same city?

Signal took the audience on a specific route, crossing the railway line using the bridge and tunnel that had transformed movement between the two sides over the years. Before that time, one had to make a lengthy detour to cross the train track. On the way, they would find long-throw speakers and resonating perspex panels that immersed the urban landscape in sounds and music. The devices received support from live sopranos in a constant dialogue with the surrounding sounds. ‘Signal’ asked questions about our relationship with the world around us. Pressing questions about the way we viewed our surroundings, even if -or maybe because- we experienced this on a daily basis. This performance of ‘Signal’ was created in situ in collaboration with artist Rita Hoofwijk.