Collaboration with the painter and sculptor Angelo Riocci in the frame of the symposium “Riarbitare con l’Arte”, San Panfilo d’Ocre 2021 Coordinated and curated by Silvia di Gregorio and Allison DeLauer with the kind support of the residents of the village. The prefixes RI = RE mark a multitude of word meanings in different languages that point at change (return…), a new and different look at things (rethink…) and a new beginning (restart…). The aim of the international artist residencies Riarbitare con l’Arte in municipalities and villages around L’Aquila in Abruzzo, which were often completely destroyed or badly affected by the severe earthquake in 2009, is revival, change and renewal through artistic activities. There is no going back to old behaviors, re… is the order of the day. Together with my Italian colleague Angiola Bonanni I was invited to San Panfilo in the summer of 2021, which is one of 5 small villages in the commune d‘Ocre. Shortly after my arrival and the friendly welcome and hospitality from Catia Di Pasquale and Giuseppe Riocci, I found out that their beloved house in the neighboring village of San Felice was badly damaged and still waits poorly supported for reconstruction, just as they left it with their three little sons 12 years ago. The next day, I decided to take a hike there and was shocked by the extent of the destruction of the lovely village with its beautiful old church, and could empathize with the personal dramas that this catastrophe had brought about. At the same time I became once again aware of the violence of nature and the powerlessness of humans against it. Following the deeper sense of the title of the symposium which could freely be translated with ‘to live again’ I collected fragments of broken dishes and objects in San Felice and brought them to San Panfilo with the idea of putting them back together to give them a new function. With the local artist Angelo Riocci I met a perfect cooperator, whose high craftsmanship and knowledgeable and respectful relationship with nature made it a pleasure to realize this joint project. In his workshop we succeeded in combining battered bowls, broken vases and painted plates with natural elements such as boulders, gnarled roots and other recycled fragments to create memorabilia and new everyday objects. The shards and stones for this are so abundant in the region that even a future design line could be developed with them. Parallel reality: While we were working on our objects, we received messages and pictures of terrible floods and storms in Germany, forest fires in Greece, Croatia, Italy, Brazil, Turkey and many other regions of the world. Repair and reconstruction will never end... On the publicly posted invitation to the presentation on the central place in San Panfilo, Angelo put in the statement: “Amico! Ascolta la voce della natura” (Friend! Hear the voice of nature). Epilogue: Some of our objects were shown at Lea Contestabile’s project ‘Seminiamo Arte’ (We sow art) at other venues in the region. The selection I had taken to Berlin fitted perfectly into an exhibition by the GEDOK art association with the title ‘Isolation versus Kommunikation’, highlighting the importance of awareness, communication and cooperation in our days.