At the heart of A Comparative Dialogue Act is a residency programme, initiated by Andrea Mancini and Every Island. During the exhibition at Mudam, four guest artists are invited to engage with the installation, infusing it with their individual and collective signature. They will work on site during the production phase and will present their newly created pieces during the performances.

The residency programme kicks off with Cucina Povera – the work of Finnish Luxembourgish composer Maria Rossi. The guest artist blends voice and field recordings to honour the banality and mysticism of the everyday. Inspired by simple sounds – creaking floorboards, whistling kettles or leaking water – and drawing analogies with the peasant cuisine they take their name from, they explore tensions between cultural identities, as well as between architectural and geographic spaces.

Biography

Finnish-Luxembourgish musician Maria Rossi started their solo project, Cucina Povera, in 2017 and previously produced, composed and performed as part of Luxos with Daniel Magee (Lo Kindre), Green Door Studios' NEET and Tarantula band in Glasgow. They did audiovisual collaborations with Roos Dijkhuizen, Mary Hurrell and Katie Shannon and released LPs on labels including Night School, BAKK, Editions Mego and Primordial Void. Rossi did live appearances and mixes among others for BBC3, BBC6, NTS and Radio Raheem. They have done artist residencies in three national parks in the South of France with choreographer Frank Micheletti; and at WORM, Rotterdam; Hallo Festspiele, Hamburg; and Intonal Festival in Malmö with Emanuel Sundin and Maja Li Härdelin for SHAPE+ platform. They created commissions for Radiophrenia, Glasgow; Sonica, Glasgow; and Performa/Pioneer Works, NYC. Rossi performed in thirty countries worldwide.