Young effect: Kombo Lab, Exhibition, Air Bodies & Live Body Painting

Opening of the exhibition dedicated to the artist Isabel Amado, ambient sound activation, participatory performance “Corpi d’Aria” with dance and sound, artisanal printing workshop on fans with recycled materials. To conclude, a live body painting performance. Curated by KomBo Studio.

SENSITIVE MATTER

An immersive artistic journey through body, space, and relationship

Sensitive Matter is a curatorial project conceived by Giorgia Checcucci, born directly from the evolution of her artistic research. At the core of the entire experience is an essential question: how much does the place we inhabit contribute to defining who we are? The starting point is that identity and space are deeply intertwined and that “who I am” cannot in any way be separated from “where I am.” Every environment we pass through leaves a trace in our way of perceiving, remembering, and building relationships; at the same time, through our very presence, we transform the spaces we inhabit.

The research finds an important resonance in the concept of embodiment elaborated by the anthropologist Thomas Csordas, according to which the body is the primary place through which we experience the world. In this curatorial device, space ceases to be a mere container for the artwork to become living matter and an integral part of the artistic process, where installations, performances, sound, and participation coexist in a unique experience open to the public.

This first edition found in Kombo Studio the ideal context to become reality. The interdisciplinary nature of the studio, the freedom of experimentation, and its strong community spirit have allowed to expand the research into a collective project capable of putting visual arts, sound research, and performative practices in dialogue. The origins of the studio are rooted in the culture of sound: for this reason, the sound dimension not only accompanies the exhibition path but also contributes to shaping it, molding spatial perception.

THE TWO LEVELS OF THE EXPERIENCE

The journey unfolds through two environments conceived as two different but complementary perceptual levels:

• The Exterior (The place of the relationship): Here the body enters into dialogue with the public space through sound, movement, and the performative presence of the action Corpi d’Aria.
• The Interior (The place of contact): A more intimate and secluded space, dedicated to the dimension of the trace and the body-to-body relationship through the live body painting performance.

THE EVENING PROGRAM

EXTERNAL

Time 19:00 — 21:00

Sound installation and performance “Corpi d’Aria”

An immersive experience articulated in three consecutive chapters. Throughout the entire journey, the sound research unfolds through the dialogue between sound design, voice, flute, and performance with glasses, while the dancer moves through the three moments with a continuous performative presence. The long veils applied to her hands become an extension of the body, making the breath and the dialogue with space visible.

• Time 19:00 — 19:40 | Chapter I: The Body

The journey begins with a reflection on the body as the first place of listening, exploring breathing and vibrations in space through sound design and voice.

• Time 19:30: First intervention of “Corpi d’Aria,” where the veils accompany the first evolution of the sound installation.

• Time 19:40 — 20:20 | Chapter II: The Relationship

Listening opens to the presence of the other. The flute introduces the relationship between body and instrument, building a dialogue that modifies the perception of space.

• Time 20:10: Second intervention of “Corpi d’Aria,” where the movement transforms into a practice of reciprocal listening with the sound landscape.

• Time 20:20 — 21:00 | Chapter III: The Environment

The final movement broadens the perception towards the relationship with the place. The sound performance with glasses transforms the objects present in the space into real musical instruments, bringing out the sound from the environment itself.

• Time 20:50: Third intervention of “Corpi d’Aria,” the concluding action that returns the body as an integral part of the space it inhabits.

INTERNAL

Time 22:30 — 23:00

Live Body Painting Performance

The evening concludes with a performance in which two artists build a deep dialogue through touch. Hands, immersed in color, become instruments of relationship: each contact leaves a mark on the body of the other performer, and each trace generates a new movement. Touch activates the gesture, and color retains its memory, making visible the relationship that is created between the bodies.

Focus on the Work: “Maya” The performance inside is accompanied by the video and photographic documentation of Maya, Giorgia Checcucci’s installation that constitutes the origin of the research from which the entire project arises.

Maya is a two-dimensional square perimeter in steel that takes shape through the tension generated by cables and anchoring points. The work does not have a definitive configuration: it is the place itself that determines its form each time. Installed in the three key territories of the artist’s identity (Cave del Predil, Livorno, and Milan), the reflective surface of the steel incorporates the surrounding landscape, demonstrating that identity takes shape only through the continuous relationship with the places we inhabit. The live body painting represents the evolution of this concept: if in Maya it is the landscape that leaves a mark, in the performance it is the contact between the bodies that generates the memory.

Effetto Venezia 2026 will involve the Youth Council of the Municipality of Livorno and the Special Council Commission ‘Livorno City of Youth’, which will animate the neighborhood with a program full of activities, performances, and workshops.

The evenings of Effetto Venezia 2026 will unfold among three locations in the Venezia neighborhood—the Café Workshop, the Piazza Domenicani Gazebo, and the alley between Via Borra and Via Traversa—with a calendar of events that intertwines art, music, technology, inclusion, and civic participation. Each evening is designed to speak to young people through their languages, offering experiences ranging from creative workshops to live performances, from itinerant podcasts to video game tournaments, to evenings reflecting on deep social themes.