TAKE A BATH

by Chiara Marini Ferretti

In TAKE A BATH, Chiara Marini Ferretti invites participants to immerse themselves, fully clothed, in the bathtub of her home in order to record the transitional movement that occurs between the removal of the constructed identity with which we present ourselves to the world daily and the slide into a state of bare existence. In this state, by relinquishing control over oneself and over things, one descends into a dimension of annihilation, disappearance, a true absence:

"I observe the unmasking through the element of water, which calls us back to life and allows us to be primordial, absolute. TAKE A BATH originates from the desire to explore death, a total state of surrender. The water with which I fill the tub is the element that enables the body to unfold: while one part of us dies, we reconnect with another part, naked, ancient, vital."

In every home, this room [the bathroom] is the expression, the incarnation of a stubborn desire for estrangement […] Its most secret intention is to filter certain experiences, to separate certain gestures of a body, distilling an intimacy in which no one is ever invited to participate. (E. Coccia)

The installation was hosted at Casa Testori from June 6 to July 7, 2025, in dialogue with ALMA – a theatrical performance by Giulia Asselta, curated by Giuseppe Frangi.

TAKE A BATH – The Book

In a small book, I collected the stories of those who have crossed this space. The photographs are accompanied by a text that gradually guides the reader to discover the treasures that have emerged here, and the weights that have settled within.