“ALMA – TAKE A BATH” is a dual exploration by Giulia Asselta and Chiara Marini Ferretti, conducted through theatre and photography, centered on the idea of elsewhere—understood as a state of totality to which one surrenders in order to live authentically and fully.
The performance “ALMA” by Giulia Asselta was staged at Casa Testori on Friday, June 6, Saturday, June 7, and Sunday, June 8, 2025. On Friday evening, the performance was followed by a discussion with Luca Doninelli and Giacomo Fausti. The photographic installation “TAKE A BATH” by Chiara Marini Ferretti will be on view until July 5, 2025.
“ALMA” represents the endless, feverish preparation that precedes the final plunge into elsewhere—or into true reality; “TAKE A BATH”, on the other hand, tells the visceral story of the transformation of body and soul that occurs in the act of immersion. These two forms of research into elsewhere communicate with each other in a project conceived for Casa Testori, which in turn dialogues with the exhibition “OLTRE/DENTRO DENTRO/OLTRE” (“BEYOND/WITHIN WITHIN/BEYOND”), where the works of Erica Bardi and Sofia Bersanelli explore uncertain, surprising, and enigmatic terrains, extending into the field of investigation and expression pursued by Asselta and Marini Ferretti.
Alma—the protagonist of the monologue written by Giulia Asselta and performed by Giulia Villa—is a young woman symbolizing the burning desire to break free from the outward image of the “good girl,” always reliable and composed, to finally reach elsewhere, to embrace compromise and fracture, to reach that strange promised land that is the Bosco di Rogoredo.
“ALMA” tells of the necessary and dramatic struggle with oneself to shatter one’s hardened, static pose and to make that leap that allows one to truly live again. The actress thus stages the preparation for this act: the physical training, positioning rehearsals, imbalance, and push—everything presses toward the leap.
Giulia Asselta’s performance was first developed in July 2024 in a Milan apartment as part of the project “Cantiere Odissea. Viaggio teatrale nel Municipio 4” (“Odyssey Workshop. A Theatrical Journey through District 4”). Promoted by Teatro Oscar, the initiative mapped a portion of Milan, telling its complex identity—from the city center to the southeastern suburbs—through the eyes and words of seven young playwrights.
ALMA
by Giulia Asselta
with Giulia Villa
Movement supervision: Simone Moretti
Project coordination: Angela Demattè
June 6–8, 2025
TAKE A BATH
by Chiara Marini Ferretti
“TAKE A BATH” is a collection of photographs portraying people invited by Chiara Marini Ferretti to immerse themselves in the bathtub of her own home. Those who submerge themselves in the welcoming water of the tub agree to let go of a part of themselves—the one they present to the world every day, the one that strives for control at all costs—in order to allow a new and authentic life to surface. This act resonates perfectly with Alma, who longs to “stop living my normal life that means nothing.”
At the same time, the photographer’s decision to admit someone into the intimacy of her bathroom is itself meaningful. As Emanuele Coccia writes in Filosofia della casa (The Philosophy of the Home), this room is “the embodiment of a stubborn desire for estrangement,” since “its most secret intention is to filter certain experiences, to separate some of the body’s gestures, distilling an intimacy in which no one is ever meant to take part.”
Photographs by ©Clara Mammana