TOWARDS HOME

We are ready to leave. Where to?

Towards Home.

Guinea Pigs collaborates with the scuplpture and architecture studio Anelo 1997, sound designer Aldo Scarpitta and author and director Federico Espositi for the presentation of stage no. 5 of In Struggle with Reality, a project of interactive and performative installation that involves the creation of spatial, sound, and performative devices that interact with the public.

The project has already produced 4 stages of investigation on the themes of adolescence, future, and remorse/regret, and borders, within IT Festival at Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan (Milan, 2017), Festival Castel dei Mondi in Andria (Trani, 2017), Festival Invisible Cities in Gorizia (Gradisca d’Isonzo, 2020) and Casa degli Artisti, Milano.
For this new edition, the theme of investigation is Home, and the relation between nomadism and stantiality.

“Verso Casa” is a participatory performance in two parts: a guided walk through public space and a collective build in the square. The theme is “Inhabiting the Path”: how we stay together while moving, and how we can “make a home” with simple, shared gestures. Two figures accompany the group: a guide who leads the route, and an architect–blacksmith who helps turn the group’s decisions into a real structure.

The project has been presented at Festival delle Geografie in Villasanta (Monza) and Immagimondo festival in Lecco, in 2025.

JOURNEY

The walk begins with a small personal choice: everyone takes a “mobile home” (a tote bag) to carry what’s needed. It’s not a prop; it helps you step into the idea of a journey. The guides’ instructions (spoken or over headphones) are always invitations, never obligations: each person can follow them in their own way.

Along the route, listening, movement, and brief shared activations alternate (for example, a simple group rhyme). Attention is directed to what we find along the way: thresholds, viewpoints, short stops. One clear rule applies: “light footprints.” We use places without wearing them out; when we leave, we put everything back and leave no trace.

Building and what remains

Arriving in the square opens the second part: we build together an inhabitable, modular structure that welcomes sounds and presences. It’s a space open to the public: you can enter, pause, listen to recorded fragments, and leave a vocal contribution. In parallel, a small archive of the experience takes shape (photos from the walk and a single audio track / “radio doc”). The final act switches the space back on and gives back what has been generated, asking the group to make a last choice about “how to continue.”

The heart

We care about putting people in a real position to choose and to take care—together—of the place and the group. For us, the walk is a training in attention: looking at what’s around us, listening, noticing thresholds and small pauses, and turning these observations into simple, shared actions. The path leads to a common form that isn’t a fixed scenography set in advance, but the outcome of decisions made on the spot: an inhabitable structure that reflects what has been built together. That space, and the traces it gathers, remain as a temporary legacy for the community that passes through it.