Uncommon Fruits
is... ripening

Uncommon Fruits is a project born from the collaboration between the extended Robida collective (Topolò, Benečija, IT) and Zavod Cepika (Kojsko, Goriška Brda, SI) that investigates two different landscapes through the lens of fruit trees – one, Goriška Brda, characterised by an almost-monoculture of vine and the other, the one surrounding Topolò, by abandonment – and the past, present and future relation humans have with it.
Within the project Uncommon fruits, fruit trees and orchards are the lenses through which these landscapes are observed and reimagined. Uncommon Fruits collects memories and knowledges around fruit trees culture, explores gardening as a technique that potentiates the whole landscape, and promotes through various actions a more intimate relation between humans, trees, orchards and landscapes.

By re-imaging routines and rituals around fruit tree culture, we explore gestures of a returning practice that continues to be carried on. Following the seasons, the landscape, the bees, the hands, the basket, the kitchen table, the drying rack and the tart, we carry out an embodied research surrounding fruit tree culture and its cyclical movements. Crafting routes for uncommon fruits within daily routines and seasonal return.

Aljaž Škrlep
Aljaž Škrlep is a writer, teacher and amateur beekeeper. He is a part of Robida Collective, where he manages its internet radio production and co-curates the theoretical section of the programme. He is interested in marginal writing practices, deterritorialization of language, the concept of the border and situating plants and animals in conteporary critical discourses.

The Uncommon Fruits project is for me an opportunity to delve deeper into the uncommon idea of plants as teachers. I am interested in how plants can reconfigure our idea of humanity and revolutionize our common understanding of ontology, epistemology, ethics and even politics.

Antônio Frederico Lasalvia
Antônio Frederico Lasalvia is an undisciplined architect from Brazil. From 2022 he collaborates with the Porto-based studio FAHR 021.3, where he engages on projects ranging from scenography and urban planning to curatorial work and sculptural interventions. He is also a member of DEMO (A Design Fiction Lab) and a certificate student at The New Centre for Research and Practice. Antonio is currently drawn to philosophy of technology, specifically to how agency is thought to be distributed within notions of materiality and authorship.

Within Uncommon Fruits I am interested in thinking about our relation to the trees in a way that is not centered around the fruit; to understand gardening as a technique that potentiates the whole landscape through the year (which includes the tree, but also its adjacent beings); to think about the consequences of the unique role human beings assume when they purposefully reorder the links between the different entities that constitute the environment.

Dora Ciccone
A film lover and theorist who found her home in Topolò on the border between Italy and Slovenia, just in front of the village cinema. From here, she imagines new ways to build communities and educational experiences through landscape exploration and memory collection. As a museum coordinator and educator at multimedia museum SMO, she researches the intersection of media and oral heritage, taking care of people’s voices and sharing new stories.

With Uncommon Fruits, I wish to weave a new layer of Robida into the village of Topolò, one that is deeply rooted and will slowly grow over time. A physical space for observing and exploring the landscape, and a collective space for sharing and dwelling, following the rhythm of the seasons, its colors and smells, and filling it with gestures of care and playfulness.

Elena Rucli
Elena Rucli graduated at the IUAV Faculty of Architecture in Venice. During her studies she also studied in Switzerland and Portugal. Since 2016, she has been part of the Robida cultural collective, linked to the village of Topolò, on the border between Italy and Slovenia. During her studies she has always maintained her passion for drawing. She favours the simplicity of black lines on a white background. She mostly represents spaces/architectures (real and imaginary) and nature. Her work has been exhibited in Topolò, Udine, Milan, Rome, and Amsterdam.
Lately she has been exploring the ceramic world.

I would like this project to be a reason for interdisciplinary exchange, research and in-depth study. The project, which takes as its pretext a reflection on the ‘fruit’ in a broad sense, stems from the passion of a heterogeneous group whose aim is to narrate the past, imagine a future, and influence the present.

Gregor Božič
Director, cinematographer and researcher of Mediterranean pomology. His work has been presented and honoured at prestigious international film festivals and venues, among them at Cannes, Toronto, Locarno, Rotterdam, Tallinn, Marseille, Shanghai, New York, etc. Since 2010, he has been working on longitudinal research of old and autochthonous Mediterranean fruit varieties. In 2014 he planted a gene-bank orchard and wrote a book on the cultural heritage of the found varieties of the Slovene-Italian borderland.

I enjoy fruits that grow on ancient trees. Each bite transports me to the time it took for such a tree to mature. In fact, I don’t even need to taste or see the fruit; just imagining it allows me to appreciate the relationship between the tree and the farmers who nurtured it. Each fruit carries a universe of stories, filled with anticipation for the tree to bloom and bear fruit. During the barren seasons, vivid landscapes of imagination emerge, along with memories that connect generations through these trees. For me, Uncommon fruits pay homage to this intertwined passion.

Janja Šušnjar
Architect based in Ljubljana (Slovenia). In recent years she participated in many projects and training in the fields of Art and Architecture in Slovenia and abroad (Italy, Norway, Japan, UK). She is interested in qualitative research of places and rethinking the balance between the built and natural environments. In her work, she explores respectful gestures in rural areas and poetic ways to establish new meanings for existing structures.

Uncommon fruits is a project about remembering, observing and imagining. It is about tightening the relationships with the landscape, nature and its inhabitants. I think that places are created through the new narrative, through new meanings. This project should think about forgotten places - and try to understand their meanings - and find places that could become meaningful, through active connection with the landscape and its 'fruits'.

Philipp Kolmann
Philipp co-develops sensorial experiences, services and products that embody the symbiotic relations between people and land. He utilises flavour and scent as mediums to re-cultivate a sense of coexistence and strengthen our connection to the places we inhabit. He focuses on local food cultures and their site-specific compositions of microbiomes, natural resources and human interventions. Philipp examines given contexts and their complex interdependencies to initiate transdisciplinary projects that support local communities in reimagining their territories. Mediating between cultural heritage, traditional ecological knowledge and contemporary realities, he allows for intergenerational exchange and situated innovation to emerge.

My curiosity drives me to explore both old and new ways of preserving seasonal flavours. I’m fascinated by fruit, often considered the pinnacle of the fruit tree’s cycle—a culmination of seeds, flavour, and desirability.
Yet, I want to go beyond this view, exploring flavours before and beyond the fruiting stage. By delving into the life cycles and materials that emerge with the changing seasons, we can discover new ways of interacting with, understanding, and sharing the abundance of care that shapes our relationship with fruit trees. This includes appreciating not only cultivated varieties but also their wild ancestors and rewilded kin, recognizing their unique qualities as well.

Suzanne Bernhardt
Suzanne Bernhardt is an artist working within the fields of edible storytelling. By tracing the roots and routes of foods, she unfolds narratives of the foods that surround us, and brings them into conversation with contemporary topics around living and working together with the lands we inhabit. Within this journey, she collaborates with craftspeople, farmers, scientists and cultural institutions as well as non-human collaborators when growing fungi, moulds and bacteria to create tasty and sculptural installations.

In Uncommon fruits, I see a basket woven from the landscape surrounding a fruit tree, I see clouds of cherry blossom in the forest, I see rows of ancient and hybrid grape varieties in the valleys, I see bottles and jars of abundance filling the shelves. I’d like to remember past common routines and explore future gestures of care around landscapes carrying those fruits, and wonder about our presence in it.

Vida Rucli
Vida Rucli is an architect and cultural worker based in the village of Topolò/Topolove, situated on the borderland between Italy and Slovenia. She is editor of Robida Magazine (2014-) and co-curator for Robida’s public programmes and projects (2017-). She lectured in different universities (Yale Architecture, Royal Academy of Arts; The Hague, Politecnico di Milano), collaborated with the festival Climate Care (Floating University, Berlin, 2023) and is a member of the research group Ecologies of Care (2021-).

I would like Uncommon Fruits’s voice to be is playful (it invents neologisms), dreamy (it loves to reflect the softness of landscape), hyperlocal (it uses toponyms, local dialect, simple words) but also ecologically and politically conscious and placed in the present (it understands the bigger context of climate crisis we are in).

Workshop n. 4 – Ways to Vinegar

Workshop n. 4 – Ways to Vinegar

by: Studio Erba

21.08.2025

oxymel vinegar herbs honey

Ways to Vinegar
Workshop

Saturday, September 6th, from 14.00 to 16.00
IZBA, Topolò/Topolove

Join us for a hands-on session exploring the world of vinegar-making and crafting oxymel—a traditional tonic made by blending raw vinegar with honey and herbs. We’ll dive into the microbial properties behind vinegar fermentation and explore its historical role across cultures as both a healing remedy and natural cleanser for healthy environments.

Oxymel has ancient roots, dating back to Hippocratic medicine in classical Greece, where it was used to treat respiratory issues, stimulate digestion, and preserve vitality. The name itself comes from the Greek oxymeli, meaning “acid and honey.” Over centuries, oxymel appeared in Arabic, Roman, Persian, and European medicinal texts, often serving as a carrier for plant medicines or as a tonic in its own right. Its simplicity, stability, and effectiveness made it a staple in pre-modern pharmacopeias.

In this workshop, participants will explore a variety of herbal combinations, each designed for different effects—such as boosting immunity, reducing stress, or energizing the body. Together, we’ll prepare personalized blends while discussing the health benefits of raw, unpasteurized vinegar, including its support for digestion, its antimicrobial properties, and its ability to bring balance to the gut and beyond.

Oxymel is typically consumed by the spoonful or diluted in water as a daily tonic. In recent years, this ancient technique has gained popularity in high-end restaurants and cocktail bars, valued for its ability to extract and develop deep flavors. Often referred to as a “vinegar shrub,” oxymel can be used like a syrup—mixed with sparkling water, added to drinks, or used in dressings for a vibrant flavour profile.

The workshop is led by Philipp Kolmann and Suzanne Bernhardt of Studio Erba, a trans-local food studio exploring the cultural, ecological, and sensory dimensions of what and how we eat. Their practice weaves together food, art, and storytelling to inspire more caring relationships between people, plants, and places.

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The workshop will be held in English language (with spontaneous Slovene or Italian translation, if needed!).

If you'd like to join us, please send us a little note at uncommonfruits@gmail.com.