Medium: Site specific 100′ Circular area (about 33 meter circumference) marked with logs from the farm and consisting of a hammock constructed from repurposed burlap coffee bean bags from a local Cremona Caffè, Torrefazione Vittoria, thread, beeswax, and rope with knot workings by Alex Todaro; tree stumps (cut by the farm’s own tree cutter, Bruno and assisted by Alex), painted beehive patterns on some tree stumps with natural dye pigment; another smaller macrame hammock for the animals (also made from found materials); 3 wood palettes (used to create a bridge sketch); and a print of a Lew Welch poem translated into Italian (with help from Julia Varela and Stefania Quaini) and the most precious typografia.
“Circle #6: Make Your Own Field at Cascina Lago Scuro” is part of a series of ongoing 100 foot (33 meters) circles I’ve been making in an attempt to address the changes/transitions/cycles (historic, social, natural, environmental) of specific land masses around the world. The circle series initially began with a Lew Welch poem I reignited as my departure point. It reads: “Step out of the planet. Draw a circle a hundred feet round. Inside the circle are 300 things nobody understands and maybe nobody’s ever really seen. How many can you find?”. Finding 300 things was meant more as a conceptual framework for sitting on the site and deeply observing for hours and days until more sounds, smells, colors, textures, and shapes surfaced, and maybe later they could be identified and classified. Drawn to the idea of circular economy as a way of strengthening threads between people and communities, I wanted to transcribe the soul of Cascina Lago Scuro farm into Circle #6 rather than highlight merely what lay within the circular region. What transpired was only an eye blink of sensations. By engaging in the farm activities as a way to support the farm, I learned new skills and made stimulating connections, like for instance between the tomato sauce we ate that afternoon and the aromatic field where we picked the tomatoes that morning—communicating with body language or through the increase in breaths as the full sun exposed an out pour of sticky pearls running down our foreheads. It was at that moment I envisioned how nice it would be for Ahmed—who manages the gardens and is a key figure in getting ripe tomatoes to the kitchen in time for the chefs to make a cascade of tomato sauce for the many pastas to come—to have access to a hammock nearby for a restorative nap before milking the cows in the early evening and perhaps for the chefs after cooking up an incredible menu or for formaggio master Fabio when he needs a break from turning milk into Gorgonzola.
I continued my own repetitive laborious, often cathartic actions while transporting logs from one part of the farm to a chosen site to trace and mark the circumference of Circle #6. During my closing presentation I had everyone stand in a circle within a circle of logs in a live action reciprocating community. The performance that would have followed (if time permitted) would have included a collaboration with culinary artist Claudio Miguel who concocted a drink from the grasses in the area with candied pairings that people would experience while also participating in my performance. The performance was to culminate with each person returning a log to the spot I initially gathered them from – erasing the 100′ traced circle and leaving within it a resting spot for people and animals. Make Your Own Field refers to the unfinished nature of this piece and the space for each being to contribute their own sensation or observation or to just take a nap on the hammock and feel supported by the energy of the trees.
Helga Fassonaki 
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