QUI DORMIVANO I MONACI (HERE THE MONKS SLEPT)

Ambra Castagnetti and Lori Lako
Mirasole Abbey
2 June 2019

Within Appocundria, a project conceived by Marta Cereda for Casa Testori involving a series of foreign artists living in Italy, a special chapter was hosted on Sunday 2 June 2019 at Mirasole Abbey, just outside Milan.
A place rich in history, built in the first half of the 13th century, now managed by Fondazione Progetto Arca Onlus and Progetto Mirasole Impresa Sociale. Mirasole Abbey itself has hosted an artist’s residence, conceived in collaboration with Adrian Paci.
Two young artists, Ambra Castagnetti and Lori Lako, born abroad and working in Italy, spent two weeks in the evocative surroundings of the thirteenth-century abbey complex, now a place where families in temporary housing emergency and mother-child units experiencing social, housing and work hardship are welcomed.

The artists had the opportunity to come into contact with those who live in these places today and to realise a project that was presented to the public on Sunday 2 June 2019. A reflection on the idea of home in a space that has always been, and in different ways over time, a home, a temporary refuge both for families in difficulty who find shelter there, and for these artists who have the opportunity to analyse the meaning of living and welcoming.
Qui dormivano i monaci is therefore a reflection on nostalgia, born of the dialogue between the two artists in residence, which translates into a unique project attempting to analyse the various facets of nostalgia and its objects, up to the idea of nostalgia itself.