Matera 2019

Once dough was kneaded at home, maybe by several hands. Then it was taken to the communal oven, where everyone waited their turn. And all this time, making the same food as the others but in their own way, they were never alone. A singular identity was formed from just two basic ingredients: flour and water.

Today, bread remains one of the few pure symbols of sharing: the ideal of a community act; food that is eaten together.

The Fondazione Sassi has restored one of the oldest bakeries in Sasso Barisano. 'The Land of Bread' brings it to life in three episodes: with Everyone’s oven and Bread games children and young people knead the dough helped by the Bread House of Gabrovo; Wheat Lands, Representation of Breads, Types of Bread are the names given to rooms in a large temporary exhibition which shows attractive images of breadmaking; there is also storytelling, a library of books on bread, a collection of stories about bread plus research and a collection of a fragmented record of propitiatory rituals.

Last but not least, 'The Land of Bread' invites everyone to the grand finale, a two-week Festival that takes place right during the wheat harvest, with exhibitions, concerts, public conversations and workshops open to everyone – a continuing opportunity to rekindle the warmth of the communal oven.