Santu Paulu Meu Falla Guarire

For the exhibition OUT OF FOCUS we propose a video installation we developed as part of our collaborative research project on the medialization of Apulian tarantism, a cultural phenomenon that was also referred to by medieval doctors as ‘dance mania’ or ‘choreomania’. It mostly affected women, whose seizures and ecstasies were attributed to the bite of a venomous spider. Pizzica (from pizzicare, to pinch someone), originally a therapeutic tarantella dance, promised a cure, with sufferers reacting to certain melodies, rhythms and colours and often having to dance for days on end until they were completely exhausted. Today, tarantism has become an important cultural and economic resource as part of the local folklore of Apulia: as a tourist spectacle, as intangible cultural heritage and not least as a strategy for overcoming individual and collective crises. SANTU PAULU FALLA GUARIRE juxtaposes the extensive archival material on tarantism with audiovisual research materials of current forms of its appropriation in a 2-channel-video-installation.

The installation is based on several years of ethnographic field research by Anja Dreschke and Michaela Schäuble, who travelled through southern Italy and researched archives tracing tarantism. It is part of the multimodal collaborative research project TARANTISM REVISITED [www.tarantism-revisited.net]