Individual Residencies
2023 | Antonio Forte
Some recent genealogical research has led me to the ancient, pre-Roman civilization of the Samnites and their now-extinct language, Oscan. Both of my grandfather’s parents emigrated to America from small Molise villages close to Collemacchia. Through residency at The Museum of Loss and Renewal, being in the heart of ancient Samnium, and within proximity of my ancestors’ birthplaces, the mountainous environment that shaped them as individuals, families, and communities may also shape me and my work as a composer and sound artist.
I collected field recordings while exploring the natural and human-inhabited areas, in addition to furthering my research of Oscan, elevating this “dead,” or at least fragmentary, tongue in order to compose new instrumental and vocal music in Oscan. I answered many questions while formulating more questions than could be answered during and after my residency.