Here's the second letter from Robida! Of course it contains some lists of our favourite things from 2021 + some wishes for Robida for 2022 (how we would like to see her develop, grow and which directions we want for her to take)
Just a little news to start: we extend the open call to the 15th January so you have some more days to reflect on islands and on what is unknown, stranded, shipwrecked, isolated, surrounded. Check again the open call here!
* We start with this word which – pronounced differently – has two beautiful meanings in Italian and English. In Italian it means “dear”, when addressing women.
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LIST OF 2021 THINGS
Favourite book read in 2021
Lau: La Polizia by Angelo D’Orsi
Vida: CAPS LOCK: How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and How to Escape from It by Ruben Pater (2021) and the Climate Care Reader 2021 edited by Soft Agency (which I entirely read on Radio Robida and you can find it here)
Aljaž: Non-fiction: Vibrant Matter by Jane Bennett (2009); and fiction: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (2020)
Maria: The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
Dora: Saturnino Farandola by Albert Robida
Elena: I’m every woman by Liv Strömquist & Book of plants by Anne Geene
Janja: On the Necessity of Gardening (2021) for my love of gardens and Priročnik za izgnance / Manuel d’exil (2016, slov. transl. 2016) by Velibor Čolić for my affection for Balkan authors ‘in exile’.
The most useful purchase
Janja: Raincoat
Lau: A new pair of windscreen wipers
Aljaž: Radio equipment to sing for my woman over the FM radio after dinner
Vida: The round table by Alvar Aalto – maybe it is not the most useful but the investment I am more happy and proud of! Ou yes!
Maria: The subscription to Il Post
Elena: House ;)
Dora: A wc
The purchase I regretted most
Janja: Uncomfortable shoes
Lau: A copy of “A little life” by Hanya Yanagihara…1091 disturbing pages…
Aljaž: A beard trimmer - lost the damn plastic piece to adjust the length of cutting in the second week of owning it. If someone has it, DM me.
Maria: A second-hand sofa that looked very different in the advertisement photos, but I didn’t have the courage to say it
Elena: A house ;)
Vida: Some fancy face cream that finished in three uses!
Dora: Dischidia, a pretty plant that needs at least 18°C to survive. Good luck.
A film watched in 2021
Vida: Landscapes of Resistance, Marta Popivoda (2021)
Aljaž: Salem’s Lot, Tobe Hooper (1979 mini series)
Lau: È stata la mano di dio, Paolo Sorrentino (2021)
Maria: Petite maman, Céline Sciamma (2021)
Dora: C’mon, c’mon, Mike Mills (2021)
Elena: Turin Horse, Bela Tarr (2011) Janja: Mila, Christos Nikou (2020)
A life secret I discovered
Lau: In a swimming crawl competition, you can swim in the style that you prefer.
Aljaž: If you do something over and over again, you become good at it. If you don’t do it, well, you can’t get good.
Dora: Pour (slowly) the chalk in the water and not the other way around.
Elena: Semi-darkness intensifies flavors.
Vida: Wear wool the whole year (with a pause in August — maybe).
Maria: Watermelon and feta cheese are really good together
Janja: You will have difficulties with cooking starch food (potato/peas) in a sour liquid. So you better cook potatoes and beans before adding sauerkraut for jota.
A new flavour I tested
Janja: The physalis fruit (my mom tried to convince me to eat it for my whole life and this year I tried it with a friend and it is actually really tasty)
Lau: I finally tried sea bass and discovered that it is my favourite fish
Aljaž: Italian puzzone (stinky cheese) - don’t like it
Vida: Vid’s soup, prepared with mushrooms and broth from wild plants, cooked during the symposium Care of Margins – it tasted like forest!
Dora: Bloody Mary, I had some tomato juice left over and vodka. No need for a second round.
Maria: Surinamese spicy pickle sauce: very hot but very delicious!
Elena: Grandma's chestnut and porcini soup, always tastes like the first time
A radio discovered in 2021
Lau: Radio Študent :
Vida: The dearest Good Times Bad Times
Aljaž: NTS Radio - I know, I know … shame on me
Dora: Radio Papesse
Janja: It was Good Times Bad Times.
Maria: It was a year of Radio Nova and podcasts for me (Ou peut-être une nuit, Lalala, Bookmakers, The Essential, La Poudre, La Librairie Francophone, Les couilles sur la table)
A magazine discovered in 2021
Vida: Hinterlands: magazine for Rural Realities
Aljaž: Deleuzine: a zine for nobodies without organs
Lau: MacGuffin
Dora: Manaròt
Elena: Nevoazul
Janja: Blumenhaus (Art & Botanical Review)
Maria Sirene Journal, for island research
Favourite instagram account discovered in 2021
Janja: @wilderantwerp and @_plevel_ (not sure if both are from 2021 but they are living my dreams )
Lau: @depthsofwikipedia
Vida: @zakole_waw which is always a super inspiring project! /// @lilligruber_fashionstyle
Dora: @anothergaze which in 2021 launched a free, irregular streaming platform: Another Screen /// @food52 for kitchen inspiration
Maria: @bengingi for good recipes and vibes, @celestinavintage for vintage shopping, @silviastella_ for beautiful content and sustainable buying advice
Elena: @yuko_nishikawa
A music listened to in 2021
Lau: Il Quadro di Troisi, Non Ricordi
Vida: Harold Budd & Brian Eno, Ambient 2 The Plateaux of Mirror (suggested by Francesca Lucchitta)
Aljaž: It was a year of going back to the music of Leonard Cohen and The Misfits, but also to one of my all time faves: Swans.This year I listened to the album The Glowing Man a lot.
Maria: A lot of Angèle
Dora: NENA, 99 Luftballons
Elena: Damien Jurado, Ohio, (thank you Aljaž, per quando non ci sei) & Max Richter in the evening.
Janja: I was glad that Darkside raised from the ashes, but there was also a lot of sad Matt Berninger’s voice in my headphones, I danced to good old Svadbas and stayed loyal to dear Nils Frahm.
A new recipe
Maria: Colomba for Easter
Vida: Ghee, from super good Montefosca butter
Aljaž: Pasta with broccoli and vegetal cooking cream
Lau: Bagnacauda
Dora: Cinnamon rolls, with Lau
Elena: Bleki (handmade pasta)
Janja: Sourdough Berliners
One thing I did but never thought I'd do
Janja: Holes for earrings.
Lau: Speaking on Radio Onda Rossa.
Aljaž: Writing a weekly planner.
Vida: Being able to read a book every morning from 7 to 8 on the radio, for 30 days, without stopping, in english!
Dora: Installing floor tile.
Elena: Closing chapters of my life.
Maria: Finishing a hand knitted jumper I started years ago.
One thing I will never do again
Janja: Forget my passport when crossing the border. Lau: Ride a horse.
Vida: Say no to a dancing party…it’s a promise (hah, I hope it will at least work for New Year’s Eve!).
Dora: Buy a new car.
Elena: Buy an old house.
Maria: Carry a sofa (yes, that sofa) up and down a total of 10 flights of stairs.
Aljaž: I shall not forget to keep holy the Sabbath day. No, seriously, I will not work that much during weekends.
→ → I you made it this far, we have a small game for you!
Each of us posed a question to herself. And answered it too!
If you are the first to guess who all of the questions+answers belong to (and send us the answers, answering to this email), you will (in July) get a free copy of Robida 8!
Let us repeat: Maria, Vida, Elena, Aljaž, Janja, Laura, Dora, each wrote a question and the answer to the question. You need to guess to whom the q & a belongs to!
Are you ready? These are the questions1
– What did you learn to do that was very useful? Driving on the highway.
– Your favorite Youtube video of 2021? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asyVDnO-_Z8
– Favorite word of 2021? Care.
– How many kilos is a quintal? 100
– Best place you’ve discovered? Hidden gardens under the sun in Venice.
– If you had to describe 2021 with one image? A lit fireplace.
– Which is the most beautiful perennial flower? Great masterwort (Astrantia major)
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2022 ROBIDA DESIRES
Lau: I would like it if once a year we could spend a week together in a different place in the world.
Vida: We talked a lot about livelihood and support structures this year and I have the feeling that these two are the big themes of Robida’s 2022. How can this project become big/dense/full/structured enough to not die if all of us find a job elsewhere which occupies most of our time – is this shift from a spontaneous small project with friends to something denser imaginable? And, yeees, a residency together somewhere once a year should be our support structure!
Dora: I hope that we will be able to put into practice some of the many ideas that passed through our minds last year: to act and find new energy from this taking action.
Aljaž: I wish that Robida will continue to be a good proponent of living in the rural areas and merging contemporary thought with tradition, theory with practice. And with that, making life a little bit less abstract.
Janja: I wish Robida to continue growing through dwelling, to find ways for providing us with fruits of working and living together, to be resistant to fears and to encourage us in our dreams.
Maria: I wish Robida 8 to really bring forward the growth process that we have already seen and made happen throughout the last issues, both in terms of content and in terms of the work organization behind it.
Elena: I would like Robida (the group and the magazine) to be more and more a curious traveller.
Have a nice end of the year, fam!
Tune in Radio Robida for New Year's Eve, we'll do some karaoke LIVE!
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Hugs hugs hugs
Robida Fam
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