Gabriele David Gandolfo
Research project
“Bet-léhem” or “of rebirth
Project summary
“Bet-lehem” is the birthplace of Christ. Its etymology is of Aramaic origin: “bet” meaning “house” and “lehem”, “bread”. I intend to go beyond the strictly Christian notion and universalize Bet-léhem as an expression of a symbolic place for the birth, but above all for the rebirth, of all mankind. Beyond a religious positioning, “Bet-léhem” is the archetype of the house, the nurturing place that brings people together around the hearth. Immigrant populations, traumatized by the uprooting of their origins and possibly by the difficulties of arriving in Europe, are looking for points of reference to help them rebuild themselves, both personally and as individuals belonging to a new community. The aim of the artistic project is to use words and plastic expression to bring out the notion of separation, margin, possible or desired rebirth, in the manner of rites of passage. The project is structured around six successive phases, culminating in the construction, first symbolic, then material, of a common house made of bread, where the idea of rebirth is expressed. At the end of the project, the people who took part in making the “house of bread” will be invited, during a public performance, to walk through the “house of bread”, thus rediscovering a kind of “rebirth” rite.
