Pialassa

Pialassa is an expression from the Italian dialect of Matilde Stolfa’s hometown of Ravenna. It means to take (pia) and to let go (lassa), and refers to the swampy, marshy areas that lie between the city and the coast. To explore the narratives, relationships and practices embedded in this place, Stolfa built a floating hut. The fragments, stories, objects and body gestures gathered reveals a situated cultural and biodiverse heritage of the past, present and possible futures. This buoyant design position represents a resistance against extractive cities based on work and consumption, where the only acceptable activation of space is through monetisation.