Stories to Tell

What happens when artists are given the time to wander through abandoned houses, places that once buzzed with life, but now hold only silence? In April 2025, nineteen artists worked in the Italian village Viarigi, where time seems to stand still and memories linger on the walls. They found high heels in the hallway, a bar of soap on the sink, yellowed letters in a drawer, a tablecloth on an empty table. Traces of lives once vibrant, loved, and long gone. Gradually the theme shifted from decay to the search for stories. Stories of the grande dame with her Hollywood mirror. The ambitious general. The brothers who divided their house in two and Domenica Lana, the woman who forever remained a mystery. Group exhibition at House of Dialogue in Bussum, The Netherlands. On show from November 9 2025 till March 29 2026.

This exhibition brings these tales to life through images, objects and installations. It is an ode to the men and women who once lived, worked and loved here and were sometimes forgotten. To those who left and to those who stayed. To what has passed, and to what might be born again.

Stories to Tell
Group exhibition: Alice Carazzo – Anke Schippers – Annelies Ruis – Bert Voss – Betsy Green – Brigit Vermeulen – Christian Costa – Elke Vroemen – Ilse Vermeulen – Karianne Bueno – Laura Hein – Lorenzo Botto – Marieke Paping – Marieke Zon – Marijke Donath – Nynke Brandsma – Paulien Dubelaar – Wout Speyers – Yeelen Tavilla.

Wout Speyers
It was really by coincidence that I ended up in Viarigi together with artists, painters, and photographers. The wonderful people are inspiring as is the charming place itself, with its abandoned houses. Lives once lived here, remembered or forgotten.

The wardrobes, clogs, pumps, tablecloths and picture frames tell a silent story. The fashionable lady before her 1970s Hollywood mirror, the dignified banker’s wife, the mother who cared for children and elders at the table, the mistress who kept her silence, the farmer’s wife with mud on her hem, the craftswoman weaving and stitching. The lover who never returned from the tower and Domenica Lana, the enigmatic muse who once stirred Viarigi. Here the idea arose to weave tangible traces of the past into something new, an object that carries memories within it. The scent of secrets. A tribute to the women who lived, worked, loved, disappeared, and were sometimes forgotten here. A woman’s boot, made from found fragments as a metaphor for the path they walked.

A pedestal of solid Italian olive wood, like an altar, bearing a found sandal. Reborn in leather. The lace of tablecloth and lingerie interwoven, familiar yet seductive. A hint of businesslike restraint embraced by a playful collar. The red lace that binds it all together ripples like the fiery locks of Domenica Lana, muse of Viarigi, sensual and sacred.

Exhibition: Stories to Tell
Opening: Sunday November 9 2025: 14:00 – 17:00
Location: House of Dialogue, Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 11, Bussum, NL.
The exhibition runs until March 29 2026. And is open on December 6 2025, January 11, January 31, March 7 and March 29 2026.
In addition the exhibition can be visited by appointment via Monique van de Griendt +31 6 54225320.

Photo’s: House of Dialogue/’Le Donne di Viarigi’ by Wout Speyers.