Event organized by IS-ST
Italian Suscon Suspension Team

The 17th Italian Suscon, an event dedicated to the practice of body suspension and

related activities, took place on 21, 22 and 23 May 2023.

Like last year, the event took place at Cascina Caremma in Besate, a few kilometres south
of Milan, a farmhouse with a spa in the middle of the countryside.
SusCon, like last year, was open to the public with free entry on Sunday 21 and as a private
event on Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 May.
On Sunday in the early afternoon there was the presentation of the book ‘Behind the
Eyes’ by Eugenia Monti aka Darkam Arkadia: a travel diary reflecting on the importance of
collective and individual rituals.
In the afternoon, some demonstrations of body suspensions to prepare for the evening
dedicated to the presentation of the performance: ‘Sensory Suspensions’.
At around 9.30 p.m., the performance proper began.

SENSORY SUSPENSION

It had been a long time since the IS-ST had tried its hand at a public performance.
Sensory Suspension was a completely new experience for the team.

Bruno Valsecchi had been cradling the idea for some time, then during a discussion with his
friend Alan Berardinelli while the 15th Italian SuScon Retreat was taking place, Bruno and

Alan realized they had a similar project in mind.

Unfortunately, however, due to COVID and other personal vicissitudes, they were no
longer able to develop this particular interaction between body suspension and music

together.

The idea for Bruno then evolved into an experience of multiple sensory stimulation, as we

will see below.

The performance ‘Sensory Suspension’ that was presented at SusCon was then developed

together with all the performance participants.

An evening without a general rehearsal and without being able to fine-tune every detail.
Everything was carefully planned on paper, but only marginally tested in practice, both for
reasons of actual realization and so as not to have unconscious influences on the success of
the performance.
It is the collective effort of this heterogeneous group to create harmony as a whole.
A call to reawaken the senses that Mother Nature has given us and which we use on a daily
basis, often without realizing the real value of these gifts that we have from birth.

Biometric data, technology and derivatives of natural products were used to try to create
a harmonic synergy between the whole: understood as organic, inorganic, empathic and
virtual.
Sospensioni sensoriali is a multidisciplinary performance involving: body suspensions, music,
the technology of capturing and transforming certain neural parameters to turn them into
light projections, visual, auditory, olfactory and taste stimulation, and for us who made the
suspensions, also tactile stimulation.
We tried to create a moment of stimulation of four senses: sight, hearing, smell and taste,
to try to involve the spectators and performers in an all-round active participation.
The staff consisted of around 20 people who filled all the necessary positions to
coordinate this complex evening.
Three friends were available to suspend themselves during the performance: Cristiana
Amadei, Igor Lorenzi and Samuele Rigamonti,
In addition to the facilitators of the body suspensions, two professional musicians,
Sebastiano Cavagna and Claudio Rossi, were involved. In addition to creating a musical
carpet, they played live music through the stimulation of the cords of one of the
suspensions in place, to which sensors were attached that transformed the mechanical
stimulation into electrical stimulation and then, through specific software, into a digital
signal that was transformed into music.
Media artist Enrico Viola used specific skin electrodes placed on the forehead of one of
the suspended persons to pick up neural waves in different frequencies produced by the
brain, representing different brain activities: these waves translated into digital and then
luminous signals, which were projected onto the main screen during the performance.
They mirrored the activities of the brain of the person suspended at that moment.
Martina Bianchini specially prepared an infusion of specific aromas and essences for taste
stimulation: it was distributed to the audience before the start of the performance. The
infusion was chosen to harmonize with the incense that was burnt and diffused in the air
during the performance for olfactory stimulation.
In addition to the members of IS-ST, Eugenia Monti, Beto Rea, Alex Pereiro ‘Indigenak’
and Charline 864 also participated in the performance as facilitators.
In short, an atypical ensemble but one that we felt served its purpose.
The area where the evening was held was packed.
Much larger audiences than expected, but fortunately we managed to accommodate them
adequately.
We enjoyed staging this performance and we hope that the audience also enjoyed it and
found what we proposed interesting.

For us, it was a very interesting test of the potential of this kind of fusion of suspension,
music, digital art and who knows what else.
With planning and imagination the possibilities are endless.
We will see what comes out of it.
SusCon, as mentioned, continued as a private event on Monday and Tuesday.
These days were entirely dedicated to the participants of the event and to the most
varied suspensions, realized following specific requests and/or proposals by the
facilitators present at the event.
Three days passed under the banner of serenity and sharing among all those present.
Very nice that there were many first suspensions of guests who came especially to try
their first flight with us.
For us it is an extra emotion to see that people feel so comfortable in our community that
they trust us to try such a special experience.
We sincerely thank everyone, but really everyone who participated both as guests and as
volunteers.
You were fantastic.
Thanks to all of you there was a harmony and serenity that gave a
family feel to this memorable experience.
We thank all the companies that show us their trust through their continuous support.
We would like to thank all the staff at Cascina Caremma who very patiently and
professionally once again this year made us spend three fantastic days cradled by their
thousand attentions, immersed in this spectacular location.

We hope to see you all again next year.
Same place, 18th Italian SusCon – 19/20/21 May 2024

Staff IS-ST Italian Suscon Suspension Team