Running from 5-11 December 2022, the main theme of the project’s 2022 edition was “Gaia’s routes: journeys of humanity” and was held at the Tiburtina Rail Station in Rome, Italy.
The event was produced by Music Theatre International ETS, a non-profit organisation, in partnership with Grandi Stazioni Retail and with the support of the Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane FSI.
The project has now been running for three years, and has been promoted by the Cultural Department of Roma Capitale, as it won the public notice “Contemporaneamente Roma 2020 - 2021 -2022”, curated by the Department of Cultural Activities and carried out in collaboration with the Italian Authors’ and Publishers’ Association (SIAE).
The extensive programme (described below) focused on a geographical experience of travelling around the world. Nevertheless, just like in the previous editions, the audience were also encouraged to explore different activities related to travelling, as a creative experience of mind and body, of relationships, sensibility and emotion within all of us. After having been part of the European Year of Railways (EYR2021) in its first and second edition, #InTransito3 promoted the European Year of Youth (EYY2022), giving a platform to young people.
THE SOCIAL WALL / INTERACTIVE DIGITAL MAP - made another appearance after the 2nd edition with new and improved content. The interactive social wall is a digital map of the world, shown on a large touch screen, where the public could view videos from “sustainable travellers” who responded to the call for contributions launched by the organisers, for them to participate in the project as #InTransito’s special correspondents, by sharing stories on travel experiences with a focus on the meaning of sustainable and ethical travel. The map was consistently updated thanks to contributions added both before and during the event. The Foundation FS Italiane, #FSGREEN was also part of the collaboration with its video on sustainable travel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjGBcnERQy8&list=PLbSZ18iuW7LjL98-vKhmoqUNk3mM-lz1U). The digital map also had new contributions from Bimed - La Staffetta di Scrittura (a school relay story writing initiative), two Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe (the Phoenicians’ Route and Iter Vitis), embracing several countries from the Euro-Mediterranean area, with the input of Viaggi Diffusi (responsible tourism company), and many more. The map is also available on the #InTransito website.
THE TIME CAPSULE - initially used in #InTransito’s 1st edition, returned with a digital audio station where travellers recorded short voice messages leaving a thought, a memory, a hope, or a dream of a journey that they had just made or were about to make.
GAIA’S ROUTES, ART INSTALLATION BY SERGIO GOTTI + PHOTO EXHIBITION - the cardboard artist Sergio Gotti created a large-scale art installation representing Earth’s two hemispheres and continents, showing the impact of humans on Earth and on her natural ecosystems, represented in both time and space (e.g. via endangered animals). His work was a multi-layered sculpture, which was to be assembled by the audience while they took part in a themed quiz-game. Therefore, the art installation changed every day, according to the audience’s interactions with it and their answers to the quiz-game.
A photo exhibition was presented alongside the art installation, integrating Gotti’s sculpture with the works of three internationally renowned photographers - Lucia Baldini, Nicoletta Diamanti, and Rosellina Garbo – on the theme of “(visual) live memory of traditions lived in communities”. Diamanti also joined at the exhibition opening event on 5 December to meet the audience. Additionally, the three photographers released a video interview in which they discussed their creative process in regard to the photos exhibited at Tiburtina, and is available on the M.Th.I. Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17_q1NTaf3s.
At the end of the event, Sergio Gotti’s art installation was donated to the Enzo Rossi School of Fine Art, together with all of the cardboard used to set up the space, so that the students could reuse it in a creative way. The photo prints were donated to the three photographers who collaborated on the project.
CHILDREN WORKSHOPS - the highly anticipated activities were dedicated to 6-12 year olds, and over four workshops the young participants were taught to discover the world in a creative, intuitive and inclusive way, by listening to fables and fairy tales from other cultures, smelling spices in a multisensorial journey, and exploring languages, writings, and creative representations from around the world. On Sunday 11 December, a treasure hunt was organised, thanks to the Grandi Stazioni Retail’s generous collaboration and the participation of some shops located in the Tiburtina Railway Station shopping mall, after being an incredibly successful event in the previous editions..
A video is available on the M.Th.I. Youtube channel showing the children’s activities at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeZ1bKylL_M.
WORD PATHS – four interviews with travel writers from different points of view were also held, regarding: travelling as a metaphor for knowledge and personal growth and as a way to know nature and its strangest places (with Stefano Cascavilla), travelling as an opportunity for information and important impressions of history (with Andrea Pomella), travelling as a way to get in touch with one’s own inner dimensions (with Luciano Allamprese), and finally, travelling as a way to explore human feelings and to understand happiness (with Ilaria Gaspari). The interviews were coordinated by Gioacchino De Chirico, and a video is available on the M.Th.I. Youtube channel showing the interviews at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uBh02vWabY.
A WANDERING TOUR OF THE WORLD – two events were organised in collaboration with the Blue World International Academy, including several international communities and involved discovering different countries around the world through their traditional costumes: on 8 December this was Romania, Peru, Ukraine, Bolivia and Brazil, and on 10 December, Albania, Morocco, Georgia, the Philippines, Tunisia and Afghanistan. The following video is available on the M.Th.I. Youtube channel showing the events at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMRcgCWKKBU.
CREATIVE INTERVENTIONS - #InTransito hosted an educational project with the students of the Enzo Rossi School of Fine Art in Rome. The project consisted of a creative journey in three steps, during which the students created design and fashion exhibitions in the Tiburtina Railway Station, inviting travellers and audiences to join and interact with them. The clothes made were paraded in the station’s commercial gallery and remained on display for the public to see until the end of the event.
THE CONTESTECO WORKS – the 3rd edition was twinned with Fai la differenza, the Festival of Sustainability, who were a project winner of the public notice Estate Romana 2020-2021-2022. Therefore, the winning works of each ContestEco 2022 category were exhibited in the #InTransito space. A sustainable art and design contest, involving artists and art lovers from all over Italy, ConstestEco 2022 was dedicated to Pier Paolo Pasolini, celebrating one hundred years since his birth.
THE LAMP OF DESIRE – there were two performances by Arabic calligraphist and artist Amjed Rifaie, who transcribed the sentences on travelling left by those passing through the Tiburtina Railway Station during #InTransito 1 and 2, or chosen by the people visiting #InTransito 3, in Arabic calligraphy on parchment. The parchments were then presented as a homage to each traveller, as a memory of a unique experience.
RAIPLAY SOUND – thanks to the media partnership with RAIPlay Sound, some of the stories from platforms (focused on travel) were made available at the Tiburtina Railway Station. In the form of podcasts, they were downloadable for free from the #InTransito space by scanning the QR code on certain posters. Therefore, travellers were accompanied on their journeys by tales from around the globe.
SUSTAINABLE ROUTES – this section of the programme included printed tables from the UIC (International Union of Railways) Atlas, with a show reel of the photos from the Touring Club Italiano’s historical archive, including analogue fragments of historical travel testimonies (postcards, stickers, stamps, etc.) as well as more informative materials, such as posters with illegal human and animal trafficking routes, were available for perusal in the #InTransito 3 exhibition space.
Video on the #Intransito 3 event at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHQs8P-myX4.
Video on #Intransito 3’s event space at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQfSma1DkP4.
Certain activities during #InTransito’s 3rd edition were also made more accessible via LIS interpreters, such as the presentation of the photos exhibit and the Word paths.
About 1700 people visited the space and participated in the activities at Tiburtina.
#InTransito is a project by Music Theatre International - ETS (M.Th.I.) www.mthi.it
Organising partner Grandi Stazioni Retail
Patronage UIC the International Union of Railways, Touring Club Italiano
Special thanks to Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane FSI
Collaborations Creare e Comunicare, Simtur, ByCam Fotografia di Teresa Mancini, TIT The International Theatre, KIT Italia, Bimed (Biennale delle Arti e delle Scienze del Mediterraneo), Sunrise1, La Rotta dei Fenici – Itinerario Culturale del Consiglio d’Europa, Iter Vitis - Itinerario Culturale del Consiglio d’Europa, Liceo Artistico Enzo Rossi, Blue World International Academy, Casa delle Tecnologie Emergenti di Roma Capitale
Media partner RaiPlay Sound, Emergenze digitali, Radio Luiss
Twinned project Fai La Differenza – Il Festival della Sostenibilità
