Stefano Cagol's 697 Mothers Performance at Bondo

Stefano Cagol (born 1969 in Trento) staged a collective performance titled "697 madri" at the Antica Chiesa di San Barnaba in Bondo, Italy, running until September 17, 2016. The event involved 697 women, many new to performance art, who became part of a relational and cultural action. The performance functioned as an anthropological ritual, adding artistic meaning to the historical site with ethical and community engagement goals. A video documentation, using infrared camera, captures the symbolic gathering, evoking both suffering and life, stillness and silence, to recall past pain. The video combines the artist's voice suggesting multiple interpretations. The exhibition also includes a site-specific aluminum sculpture, "Corno del Cavento Island," placed in the church, contrasting distance and solitude with sharp, pointed slabs. It references the inhospitable mountain altitudes, with sound of a bell and wind leading to a large-scale image of the participatory action placed before the altar, quoting Tristan Tzara: "Art in the spring of time was religion, stone and wood were truth." The show is completed by historical research on World War I, specifically the White War on the Adamello, conducted at high altitudes by expert climbers and Alpini, and a series of photographs allowing locals to remember that event between past and present.