From October 23rd to November 7th, the LAL collective was in an artist residency in Civitella di Licenza, in the Aniene River valley, which ended with a joint public presentation.

ARCHIPELAGO OF BODIES IN TRANSIT
Artist residency of the LAL collective
October 23rd – November 7th, 2026 · Civitella di Licenza (RM), Italy

“Archipelago of Bodies in Transit” is a traveling project by the LAL collective, formed by three artists with multiple identities, connected to Italy through paths of emigration and return: Luís Gomes da Costa, Ana Carucci, and Luciano Piccilli. From residency to residency, the collective explores the sensitive ways in which migration is inscribed in the landscape, in bodies, in objects, and in stories, intertwining the histories of each territory with their own family and linguistic genealogies. In Civitella di Licenza, hosted by Collettivo L’Aquila Reale and co-produced with Binaural Nodar, the project took its first site-specific form.

The starting point was the Aniene River, which shapes the valley geographically, historically, and socially, but with which communities today have a weakened relationship. The collective took geographical, historical, and environmental information as the starting point for a poetic and shared listening, also attentive to the rivers in the memory of those who live there: whoever loves the river of their homeland may perhaps come to love the river of the place where they have ended up living. Through field recordings, walks, and encounters with residents and with local associations working with migrants, the residency brought together the different facets of displacement in this mountainous territory, from emigration to depopulation, from return to the arrival of new inhabitants.
Each artist developed their own work from a common theme, and the three works came together in a joint public presentation at the end of the residency, overlapping in the transitions until they formed a continuum.

Resident artists: Luís Gomes da Costa, Ana Carucci, and Luciano Piccilli.
Host organization: L’Aquila Reale – Centro di Arte e Natura
Co-production: Binaural Nodar
Photographs of the final presentation: Francisco Navarrete

Binaural Nodar is a cultural organization supported by the Portuguese Republic – Culture, Youth, and Sports | Directorate-General for the Arts.