Grieving with Gladiatore — Community grieving rituals for the fishing community in Chioggia.

In Chioggia's fishing community of 1000+ members, the weight of unspoken losses runs deep, and emotional burdens often remain unspoken. Despite technological advances, the sea remains unpredictable – bringing equipment damage, regulatory challenges, injuries, and missed moments with loved ones ashore. While alcohol loosens tongues during off-duty hours, genuine emotional sharing remains rare. When something's mulling inside, it manifests in excessive reactions, substance abuse, or traces of despair in weather-worn eyes.
This project creates a safe harbor for collective grieving through a site-specific ritual at the Gladiatore – a fishing vessel wrecked in 2007 near Chioggia's port entrance. Never demolished, it stands like a wounded warrior, a testament to fishing's unpredictability and the community's resilience.

The process unfolds gently. First, we privately invite fishers to share 3-4 words representing their unspoken burdens: failed relationships, regrets, missed opportunities, or dreams left behind at sea. These messages are crafted to preserve privacy while maintaining deep personal meaning.

Then, we gather at twilight by the Gladiatore for a community ritual. Sound artist Hugo Mir Valette creates a live performance mixing recorded boat sounds – from night-time dock whispers to open-water cruising – with Niccolò Moronato and Hugo voicing the fishers’ messages.

During this performance, each fisher brings a commemorative object or flower. The ritual culminates in casting these objects into the Gladiatore's broken hull, symbolically releasing their burdens to the sea that both gives and takes.
The entire experience prioritizes agency and privacy. Fishers choose what to share and when, if at all, with fellow fishers.
In the following days, we'll quietly collect reactions and wishes, creating the potential for ongoing community practice.

Taking inspiration from what worked best, we’ll create an open-source community grieving workbook, helping other cultural organizations adapt our approach for their own communities – from Venetian locals processing the loss of their city to tourism to other coastal communities facing unspoken struggles.

Through acknowledging collective grief, we strengthen community bonds that help weather life's storms far beyond our shores.

This project responds to the "Lovemaxxing" brief by using a wounded ship and sound art to create meaningful connections within Chioggia's fishing community.
We hack a powerful local symbol - the wreck of Gladiatore - transforming it from a reminder of danger into a vessel for collective healing. Through intimate sound design mixing boat recordings with anonymous confessions, we create a digital-physical ritual that helps process unspoken grief.

The project delivers impact through:

Expanding definitions of love:

• Creating safe spaces for emotional vulnerability in a community that rarely expresses feelings openly
• Expands the definition of love beyond individual or romantic expressions to encompass collective grief, shared vulnerability, and community care.

Expanding community love languages available:

• Transforming private burdens into shared experiences through collective ritual
• Legitimizing emotional vulnerability as a form of strength and passionate attachment
• Creating safe spaces for emotional expression
• Creating space for collective grief as a normalized practice in public space
• Using sound art and symbolic objects to process and articulate unspoken bonds
• Developing new vocabularies for collective care
• Technology (sound recording, voice sampling) enhances rather than replaces human connection

Expanding the impact of love:

• Transforming a symbol of loss into a catalyst for deeper connection
• Honoring the deep bonds between fishers, sea, and community

The power lies in its gentleness - no forced sharing, no public exposure, just quiet moments of recognition that what weighs heavily on one person can be held together by many. This creates a sustainable impact by establishing new patterns of community support that can continue long after the initial ritual and even be transferred to other communities thanks to an open-source community grieving workbook we intend to create after the first pilot experience.

PRIMARY AUDIENCE:
Chioggia's fishing community (approximately 1000+ active fishers) will directly benefit from:

• A safe space to process unspoken grief and emotional burdens
• Opportunities to release private struggles in a private, sensible way
• Opportunity for connection with others who understand their unique challenges
• Recognition that their emotional wellbeing matters
• New ways to process difficult experiences without judgment

SECONDARY AUDIENCE:
Fishers' families and loved ones (estimated 5000+ people) will gain:

• Better understanding of the emotional toll of fishing life
• Stronger emotional connections with their fishing family members
• New ways to support their loved ones' emotional wellbeing
• Opportunities to process their own related grief and anxiety

The ripple effects shall extend to:

• Chioggia's broader community (20,000 residents) gaining opportunities for a new appreciation for fishers' emotional lives
• Local cultural organizations learning new approaches to community care
• Other coastal communities gaining tools to replicate grieving rituals (via open-source community grieving workbook)
• Cultural workers accessing open-source methods for community healing
• Mental health professionals understanding the unique needs of maritime workers
• Artists and activists building on our documented experiences
• Grassroots organizations adapting our workbook for their specific contexts

The potential for long-term impact grows as:

• Community members witness the power of collective grieving
• New traditions of emotional support take root
• Stigma around expressing feelings diminishes
• Bonds between different parts of the community strengthen

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & DESIGN

• Begin with careful outreach to fishers we already have strong relationships with
• Host intimate conversations to refine the ritual design and gather initial interest
• Work with sound artist to develop performance concept
• Scout optimal timing and position near Gladiatore wreck
• Develop simple, clear process for message collection and anonymization

RITUAL PREPARATION

• Private collection of 3-4 word messages from participating fishers
• Message readings with sound artist
• Sound gathering from boats and harbor
• Sound composition development
• Location preparation and safety assessment

RITUAL EMBODIMENT

• Sound performance setup
• Sunset gathering at Gladiatore site
• Gentle guidance through the ritual process
• Photo/Video Documentation (if agreed by participants)
• Support for emotional reactions

FOLLOW-UP CARE

• Individual check-ins with participants
• Gathering feedback
• Identifying needs for future sessions
• Creating documentation for funding future iterations

RITUAL REPLICATION & DIFFUSION

• Abstraction of best-working elements to inspire new community rituals
• Creating an open-source community grieving workbook for fellow coastal communities
• Distributing an open-source workbook in partnership with other grassroots cultural institutions
  (e.g. Microclima)

Key design principles:

• Privacy and consent at every step
• Flexibility to adapt based on community feedback
• Replicability in varied contexts, places, and communities

We bring relevant experience through:

• Established trust with the fishing community
• Previous cultural production in Chioggia
• Sound artist's expertise in site-specific work
• Experience holding space for community healing

Success metrics:

• Participant feedback
• Community response
• Requests for future sessions
• Emotional safety maintained
• Photo/Video Documentation quality (if allowed by participants) or indirect documentation (written journals, verbatim, description of reactions etc)

This project is presented by SONAI, a collaborative duo with proven experience engaging Chioggia's fishing community through multisensory art.

PROVEN COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
In 2023, SONAI created a successful multisensory experience aboard one of Chioggia's iconic fishing boats (image #2 attached). The fishing crew directly contributed to the initiative’s success by devoting hours to sharing the beauty and struggles of their profession with the international audience in attendance at the Bogiaisso festival and by welcoming them onto their boat. The fishing crew still proudly wears their SONAI t-shirt in Chioggia’s streets today.

AMPLIFIED CULTURAL RESONANCE:
The project is backed by Bogiaisso, a non-profit organization and summer video art festival that has built trust with local fishers since 2022 by curating content relevant to their lives.

Bogiaisso provides:

• Established community relationships
• Legal structure and insurance
• Event production experience
• Local social media presence

The open source community grieving workbook elaborated after the first pilot experience can be distributed by other grassroots cultural institutions with similar intention, for example Microclima.

Microclima provides:

• Experience creating intimate public rituals in maritime settings
• Established connections with Venice's maritime communities
• Proven ability to handle sensitive site-specific projects
• Guardianship island of Sant'Andrea, offering potential future ritual site
• Connections with maritime cultural organizations
• Public programming channels
• Community networks

KEY TEAM MEMBERS:

Niccolò Moronato

• Deep roots in Venice lagoon culture
• Expertise in public art that challenges power structures
• Experience leading international cultural projects
• Co-founder of Bogiaisso
• Teaching background at Politecnico di Milano

Hugo Mir-Valette

• Established relationships with Chioggia's fishing community
• Expertise in spatial sound design and live performance
• Background in data-driven sound art
• Experience working with maritime communities
• International recognition in soundscape design

Together, SONAI combines deep local knowledge, proven community trust, and technical expertise in creating meaningful multisensory experiences. Their work bridges cultural gaps while amplifying local voices, making them ideally suited for this sensitive community project.

Below are further info for key contributors:

SONAI is a collaborative multimedia project between Niccolò Moronato and Hugo Mir-Valette that synthesizes their shared interests in cultural narratives, sound, and data visualization. Based between Chioggia and Marseille, the project documents life aboard industrial fishing vessels in the Northern Adriatic Sea, beginning with Moronato's clandestine recordings aboard the fishing ship Obbedisco in 2022. Their collaboration leverages Moronato's deep connection to the Venetian lagoon's fishing communities and Mir-Valette's expertise in data-driven sound art and ecological storytelling. Through field recordings, interviews, and data art, SONAI explores Mediterranean interconnectedness, using shared linguistic and cultural touchstones to bridge maritime communities. The project manifests through film, soundscapes, installations, and performances, embodying both artists' commitment to revealing hidden power structures while amplifying local voices and ecological awareness.

MICROCLIMA A Venice-based arts organization operating at the intersection of art, nature, society, and culture, Microclima has a strong track record in creating meaningful community experiences through site-specific projects. Their signature initiative, Cinema Galleggiante (Floating Cinema), demonstrates their expertise in transforming unconventional spaces into gathering places that foster connection. In the last few years, Microclima earned the guardianship of Sant’Andrea island, a historical site in the Venetian lagoon where many locals traditionally went to spend time off the grid and far from systems of political and institutional control.

Niccolò Moronato is an artist, language designer, and cultural researcher whose work challenges established power structures through multiple mediums. Drawing from their background in economics, advertising, and linguistics, they investigate how landscape, technology, and historical narratives function as tools of subjugation. Their practice, rooted in the unique cultural landscape of their native south Venice lagoon, spans public art, cartography, and collective imagination sessions. As founder of "La Poliglotta," they lead an international linguistic collective that crafts multilingual identities for organizations across cultural boundaries. Their expertise encompasses naming, creative copywriting, voice acting, and teaching at Politecnico di Milano. Through mapping colonial histories and investigating systems of cultural influence, Moronato creates experiences that reveal societal glitches and challenge singular narratives, inviting audiences to exercise their curiosity and imagine alternative futures.

Hugo Mir-Valette is a French musician and multimedia artist whose practice emerged from personal experiences with illness and healing through sound. Initially a designer, he gained recognition in electronic music during the 2010s, releasing on Dado Records. A pivotal period in Mexico (2016-2019) saw him collaborating with indigenous communities through the Apolatl project, using his European status to amplify local voices. Based in Marseille, he now creates atonal, concrete music inspired by scientific data and meteorological phenomena, focusing on cymatics and fractal evolution. His work with the Aquatic Invasion team explores decolonial, post-internet sound cultures. Working across performance, film scores, workshops, and installations, Mir-Valette develops musical narratives that bridge Global South voices with Mediterranean ecosystems through data-driven compositions.

RESEARCH & SOUND DESIGN - $1000

• Fishing boats sound sampling & post-production: $400
• Capturing diverse sound palette from fishing practice
• Recording day/night cycles, different weather conditions
• Creating a reusable sound library for future iterations

Synthesizer programming & composition: $500

• Sample editing and arrangement
• Creating a flexible performance framework
• Building reusable sound modules

Message recording & post-production: $100

• Recording anonymous messages
• Developing adaptable integration technique

PERFORMANCE INFRASTRUCTURE - $500

• Sound system & microphones rental: $300
• Lighting equipment rental: $200

Note: Future iterations can reduce costs through:

• Local venue partnerships
• Community equipment sharing
• Potential sponsor support

DOCUMENTATION - $500 (if agreed upon)

• Videographer fee & post-production: $400
• Sensitively capturing ritual (if permitted)
• Creating materials for future funding
• Developing replication guide: our open source community grieving workbook $100+

TOTAL: $2,000

Additional notes:

• Allotted funds cover the full pilot iteration of the program
• 50% of budget creates reusable infrastructure
• Sound library becomes a community resource
• Documentation enables future iterations & new funding applications
• Local partnerships can be implemented in future iterations to reduce ongoing costs
• Simple technical needs ensure replicability
• Format adaptable to different community sizes
• No permanent equipment needs
• Flexible setup allows various locations
• This investment creates a sustainable framework for ongoing community healing practices.

PREPARATION & OUTREACH (January)

• Initial conversations with core fisher contacts
• Location scouting at Gladiatore site
• Safety and access assessment
• Begin sound equipment sourcing

SOUND COLLECTION (February-March)

• Boat sound recording sessions
• Initial sound library development
• Test recordings at ritual site
• Begin synthesizer programming
• Location acoustic testing

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT (April 1-15)

• Private conversations with fishers
• Message collection
• Message reading sessions
• Message integration into soundscape
• Ritual process refinement

FINAL PREPARATION (April 16-25)

• Complete sound composition
• Technical rehearsal at site
• Date finalization
• Final participant communications
• Equipment testing
• Documentation planning (if permitted)

RITUAL WEEK (Late April - Early May)

• Final weather check
• Equipment setup
• Ritual embodiment
• Documentation execution (if permitted)

POST-RITUAL (Early May)

• Individual follow-ups
• Feedback collection
• Documentation review
• Impact assessment
• Future iteration planning
• Replication guide design & production (open source community grieving workbook)

Final delivery: Mid-End of May