Currents / Correnti / Tokovi A game inspired by the residence on the Soča River

Each of us retains the memory of at least one childhood game: we may have forgotten the rules, but not the liberating joy of playing together.

Free and an end in itself, the game creates a different space and time, escaping ordinary logic and overcoming linguistic, social, and geographical barriers. During the Correnti / Tokovi artist residency, which took place in September 2025, the game was used as a tool to explore the area around the Isonzo River between Kanal and Gradisca, between Slovenia and Italy.

The restitution presents the results of this experience, in which the game opened up new relationships with space, with others and with the unexpected.

The Correnti residency took place in September 2025, focusing on the area around the Isonzo River between Kanal and Gradisca, between Slovenia and Italy. The participants—visual and multimedia artists, and musicians—were invited to explore the area and, at the same time, connect with the other members of the group through play, experimenting with dynamics of collective inquiry and creation.

During the week-long residency, participants engaged with local residents, particularly during three evenings of performances, musical improvisations, and installations created by the group, in dialogue with three different spaces: Kreativna cona in Nova Gorica, the Circolo Arci Gong in Gorizia, and the Trattoria al Poeta in San Martino del Carso. For several months, before, during, and after the residency, the group drew inspiration from the local area, collecting and creating stories, videos, photos, illustrations, sounds, and sculptures, from which emerge curiosities, themes addressed, and lived experiences. A selection of these materials takes shape in the game Correnti / Tokovi, open to transformation through audience participation.

The Altrememorie Cultural Association conceived and coordinated the project, with logistical and organizational support from Matteo Carli, Giovanni Chiarot, and Marta Savorgnan; Eleonora Sovrani curated the project and participated in the residency along with Francesca Cogni, Giulio Polloniato, Lenart de Bock, Maria João Petrucci, Rafhael Comodino, Tilen Kravos, Yoann Van Parys, and Žiga Ipavec. Francesco Bevilacqua assisted with the exhibition setup.

Biography The Correnti collective was born from meetings and collaborations over time and will meet for the first time in Solkan on September 16, 2025. Some have traveled from Venice, Padua, or Udine, others from Genoa, Brussels, Berlin, Ljubljana, San Pietro di Gorizia, and São Paulo. Each participant introduced themselves to the group through their favorite games, including memory, hopscotch, hide-and-seek, and Chinese whispers, telling their own story inspired by the Soča River Valley, such as "Gor and Izia," "Ondina Returns to the River," "Mia's Diary," and "Paprika," or through sound and culinary creations.

Playing, improvising, and exploring the area together, as well as sharing meals and sleep, deepened our mutual understanding. However, each member's openness to the risk involved in experimenting with unusual and communal practices and perspectives was crucial.

During the exploration, we moved alone or in groups, then met up again and exchanged clues collected along the way. These clues were insufficient to fully describe the places we visited, but they were invaluable in bringing to light shared questions and trajectories.

The Isonzo exerted a magnetic force on the members of the group, so much so that its banks, on the border between Italy and Slovenia, often became the site of unplanned encounters.