Cecilia Bengolea
Spin and Break Free, 2025
Performance
Linificio e Canapificio Nazionale, Villa d’Almè
GAMeC / Il Biennale delle Orobie – Pensare come una montagna
Courtesy l’artista
Foto: Paolo Biava
Cecilia Bengolea
Spin and Break Free, 2025
Performance
Linificio e Canapificio Nazionale, Villa d’Almè
GAMeC / Il Biennale delle Orobie – Pensare come una montagna
Courtesy l’artista
Foto: Paolo Biava
The project by Cecilia Bengolea at the Linificio e Canapificio Nazionale, Villa d’Almè
Saturday, June 7
In the industrial spaces of the former winding department of the Linificio e Canapificio Nazionale in Villa d’Almè, over 220 people gathered to welcome Cecilia Bengolea, an artist, choreographer, and dancer whose practice spans video, sculpture, and performance. Cecilia Bengolea (Buenos Aires, 1979) often uses dance as a medium to stimulate empathy and encourage emotional exchange.
On June 7, she introduced Spin and Break Free, a site-specific performance developed as part of “Pensare come una montagna – Biennale delle Orobie” by GAMeC, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo.
Pensare come una montagna is a contemporary art program promoted by GAMeC – Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, which crosses Alpine and Prealpine territories, inviting artists, audiences, and the public to slow down, immerse themselves, listen to the land, and try to think like a mountain.
A project that also involves Linificio e Canapificio Nazionale SB | B Corp®. Just as mountains suspend history between past and future, the program is rooted in the memory of places, transforming them into spaces for relationships and imagination. Both intertwine stories and knowledge, bodies and landscapes, creating patterns in which time and perception are suspended.
The work Spin and Break Free is inspired by the rotary and mechanical movements of the historical machinery used for winding linen and hemp yarns, intertwining the memory of textile work with the Free Dances of the 1930s. The choreography, performed by six dancers from the Centro Studi Danzarea di Mozzo, reflects on the dynamics between mechanical gesture, repetition, alienation, and the possibility of individual liberation.
The costumes, created in collaboration with Alberto Allegretti, are made from linen and hemp fibers in various stages of processing, recalling the rituals of Theyyam from Kerala, India, where dance becomes a tool for connecting with the earth and one’s deepest roots. The sculptural and material silhouettes of the costumes highlight transformation and the dialogue between nature and industry.
In the dialogue between art, nature, and industry, Linificio becomes a crossroads of sensitive practices and poetic visions, welcoming Bengolea’s research as a contemporary echo of ancient ritual gestures.
In this context, the mountain was not just a backdrop, but a teacher of slowness and depth: a model of thinking that digs, sows, and regenerates.
Creative team:
Choreography: Cecilia Bengolea
Costumes: Alberto Allegretti & Cecilia Bengolea
Sound design: Theo Carrere, Dub High Elements, Jideh
Dancers: Francesca Carobbio, Martina Galluzzi, Alessia Morgandi, Francesca Oprandi, Umberto Rota, Virginia Gotti (Centro Studi Danzarea)
Coordination & Communication: Cinzia Xodo
Spinners: Manola Carminati, Carla Gelmini, Nicoletta Fagiani, Claudia Cortinovis
GAMeC Curation & Communication: Lorenzo Giusti, Sara Fumagalli, Valentina Gervasoni, Manuela Blasi
