Balena Project is a long-term project involving the creation of a life-size cetacean, a Fin whale. A 24-meter-long whale, made entirely of fine woolen fabric, a huge air pocket and padding, has traveled across Italy and abroad like an old-time fairground attraction, taking on new forms of meaning at each stop. It has come to life in performances. At times it has been beached in a museum or a gallery room, on the seaside, along a riverbank, in an historic square. It would have liked to rest alongside a glacier, in a suburban neighborhood, in the courtyard of a school. It became a pretext for gathering stories, engaging the eyes, expertise and passions of many different people. In October 2010, this “symbolic device” returned to the place where the fabric of which it is made was produced, and during a 24-hour performance in the former textile factory spaces, a rite of passage was fulfilled.

It wasn’t its death but a transformation into other smaller stories that want to nourish still others. Nothing gets thrown away. Not even a thought.