KORE KORE is an audiovisual project developed by students of the MFA Nomad Program, guided by anthropologist and lecturer Franco La Cecla, who directed the film and narrated the journey.
At the centre of the project is the myth of Demeter and Kore. Kore is the name traditionally associated with Persephone before her transformation into the queen of the underworld, the daughter of Demeter. The myth has particularly strong connections with Sicily, with places such as Enna, Lake Pergusa and Syracuse appearing in different versions of the story.
Starting from this ancient narrative, the students set out across Sicily with the intention of making a film about the myth. They travelled through the island, moving from one place to another and looking for traces, landscapes, stories and contemporary connections that could bring the ancient narrative back into the present. The scenes were filmed in the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Morgantina, at the Archaeological Museum of Aidone, along the course of the Ciane River near Syracuse, in Piazza Duomo in Syracuse, and inside the Oratorio di San Mercurio, decorated by Giacomo Serpotta, in Palermo.
The result is a kind of film within a film. The short film is built around the story of the group itself: their journey across Sicily, their encounters with places and people, their attempts to understand the myth and the process of making the film along the way. The making of the film becomes part of the film itself, turning the students’ journey into both a narrative and a method of research.
As they move through the island, the students begin to recognise unexpected connections between the ancient story and the landscapes they encounter. Places become clues; fragments of the territory evoke episodes, figures and themes from the myth. Rather than reconstructing the story of Demeter and Kore as a historical or archaeological narrative, the project uses mythology as a way of looking at Sicily — allowing the ancient world to emerge through contemporary places and experiences.
KORE KORE was developed and produced within the framework of the D.I.A.R.Y. – Digital and International Arts through Research for Young Artists project.
The documentary was presented for the first time on the occasion of the opening of STRATA, a group exhibition marking the conclusion of the MADE International Artist Residency 2026.
