Viavai, a smuggler's rucksack full to the brim with culture

The word "smuggling" stands for the clandestine transportation of goods, a well-known reality on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Viavai aims to get to the bottom of the cultural and artistic exchange between the two countries linked by Italianità, the Italian way of life.
A jury of experts has selected 19 projects that aim to explore the influence of the Italian language and culture in the border regions and the relationship between art and technology on the transalpine axis. The aim is also to stimulate cooperation between Swiss and Italian institutions and players in the cultural scene. Of course, music should not be missing from this selection.

Projects in motion
So let's start in Ticino, the meeting place par excellence between Swiss and Italians, to get an overview of the projects with a musical background by Viavai to win. The eleventh edition of La Via LatteaThe "Pilgrimage", an event organized by the Teatro del tempo, will take its "pilgrims" by boat to Lake Lugano and Lake Como. In honor of Fellini, this year's event is entitled E la nave va and will extend over the four Sundays of September 28, October 5, 12 and 19. The individual stages are linked to the theme of Italianità in a variety of ways and include concerts, theater performances, films, performances, readings and installations. The musical pieces performed will span an arc from the Middle Ages to the present day. The program also includes a world premiere and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana will perform on the last day.

Also closely linked to Ticino is the project Soundlab. The aim of the initiators is not to create new cultural contributions, but to select and highlight the best of what already exists on the music scene in Italian-speaking Switzerland. Eight groups - Camilla Sparksss, Francesca Lago, Maxi B, Lonesome Southern Comfort Company, Peter Kernel, Third Reel, The Pussywarmers and The Vad Vuc - who are all well-known and appreciated in Italian-speaking Switzerland, will be given the opportunity to perform and increase their media presence in Switzerland and Italy. Soundlab strives for artistic development by supporting poetic and expressive characteristics. .

Occasions here and there
The musical-theatrical performance XiViX Op. 1515 pour Mannequins & Ensemble is another offer that Viavai was selected. In January 2015, the project will be presented at the Théâtre Crochetan in Valais as part of the Oh! Festivals and will subsequently be shown on a European tour. It is a reflection on the armor of modern man and that worn by Swiss mercenaries during the Italian Wars, mainly in the Battle of Marignano, the 500th anniversary of which falls in 2015. The project presents the works of 24 Swiss and Italian composers and creatives (fashion design, performing arts, architecture, etc.). As part of a scenic performance, conceived by director Stefan Hort and musically accompanied by the Klangbox Ensemble, twelve extraordinary, fantastic garments will be presented. Each garment corresponds to an original composition, the result of an exchange between a Lombard and a Swiss artist. The creator and artistic director of the project is Pascal Viglino.

With Transmedia is a series of events planned as part of a collaboration between the Kunstraum Walcheturm in Zurich and the Milan-based partners Careof, Die Schachtel and Spazio O'. During one weekend, two audio-visual performances, a sound live act, a video screening and an installation will be shown. Part of this project will be presented at the Forum Wallis, as part of the Festivals for New Musicrealized: The sound installation and the Sound Live Act are planned here. For its part, Kunstraum Walcheturm will be a guest at Careof in Milan with a concert, a video screening and two audio-visual performances. The whole event will be rounded off with a sound installation at Spazio O'.

Music and territory in history
Three projects deal with music as a means of exploring the landscape and people: LapTopRadio will work with Radio Tramontana create a mobile studio that moves between Lombardy and Switzerland. It will explore cultural exchange across borders and the traces left behind by radio in the 1960s and 1970s. Vedi alla vocea project of the Valais School of Design, focuses on the history of Italian immigrants in Valais, particularly from the perspective of women. Thanks to the mobile sound archives that will visit various locations, popular music can also be presented. Ma partono cantando con la speranza in cuor, a project of the Dicastero Museo e Cultura di Mendrisio, focuses on the history of the anarchists who fled to Ticino, their particular situation and the associated artistic forms of expression, with music naturally playing an important role.