Lead partner: European Capital of Culture 2025 Nova Gorica - Gorizia, Zerostress Production, I mille occhi.
Other partners: Fondazione Franco e Franca Basaglia, Venezia, Fondo Osbat - Gorizia, Accademia della Follia, Trieste, Kinoatelje, Coop. La collina/Oltre il giardino.
Venue: Cmurek Castle.
GO! MarKo:
Once upon a time, a horse named Marko lived at the psychiatric hospital in St. Ivan, Trieste. In his old age, patients saved him from inevitable slaughter by securing his pardon. For 50 years, Marco Cavallo’s sculpture has symbolized the dismantling of institutional walls in Italy and beyond. In 2025, the blue horse from Trieste will embark on a journey across Slovenia, visiting people still confined to so-called special institutions, separated from their communities. He will carry their messages to the Museum of Madness in Trate, and from there, to the world.
Marco Cavallo’s tour from Trieste to Trate will feature a cultural and artistic program, including the first Slovenian-language presentation of works by psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Franco Basaglia. The closing event will be held at the Museum of Madness in the Cmurek Castle, Trate—the first and only deinstitutionalized institution in Slovenia.
Kino Basaglia:
Care for human dignity, open dialogue, engagement with the public, responsibility, enthusiasm, and a belief in change, beauty, art, and freedom (which is truly revolutionary!). Collaboration with artists played a crucial role in bringing "madness" out from behind institutional walls and into the open. Marco Cavallo, Scabia, Ugo Guarino, and Accademia della Follia are just some of the key figures in Basaglia's Reform. Kino Basaglia brings events, film screenings, and presentations of archival materials to diverse locations—not limited to cinemas—reviving the spaces and spirit of Basaglia on both sides of the border. It connects with other projects celebrating this visionary of psychiatry. It evokes a time of freedom of madness and perhaps inspiration for the madness of freedom in today's increasingly enclosed society. As Basaglia reminds us: "Reform is not an automatic machine; it needs constant support."
Key individuals:
- Franco Basaglia,
- Marco Bellocchio,
- Silvano Agosti,
- Sandro Petraglia,
- Stefano Rulli,
- Pepe Dell'Acqua,
- Erika Rossi,
- Alberta Basaglia,
- Lepa Mladjenović,
- Angela Pianca.
Click here to watch the program on psychiatrist Franco Basaglia: https://ars.rtvslo.si/podkast/glasovi-svetov/10295743/175110268
Photo: Emilio Tremolada Archive.
