La Grande Lessive in Paliano

A laundry made of works of art

There is no image more familiar in the villages of Lazio than a clothesline stretched between two walls. La Grande Lessive starts with this everyday gesture and transforms it into a collective artistic act: instead of clothes, A4-sized works created by anyone who wishes to participate are hung on the lines with clothespins. For an entire day, Piazza Marcantonio Colonna, the heart of the historic center of Paliano, in the province of Frosinone (Lazio), becomes an open-air installation that can be walked through, read, and commented upon.

The origins: an idea born in France in 2006

La Grande Lessive was conceived in 2006 by French visual artist Joëlle Gonthier and has been repeated twice a year since, in March and October, always on a Thursday. Over the years, the event has taken on an international dimension, with simultaneous gatherings in dozens of countries: schools, associations, libraries, and squares join the same invitation and hang their art laundry on the same day. Each edition is guided by a common theme, deliberately short and enigmatic, which must not be modified: it is the shared reference point that allows people who are far apart to walk in the same direction for one day.

In Paliano, a project by UNITRE

In Paliano, the initiative is promoted by UNITRE — University of the Three Ages, Paliano branch, with the patronage of the Municipality. The choice is no coincidence: La Grande Lessive is by definition an intergenerational project, placing the drawing of a primary school child next to the photograph of an eighty-year-old member on the same line. The first major Paliano setup dates back to October 2022, when the main square was crossed by the colorful lines of the works; the experience has since been repeated in subsequent years, becoming a permanent fixture in the city's cultural calendar.

How to participate

You don't have to be an artist, and this is the essential point of the proposal. The invitation is open to everyone: create an A4-sized work inspired by the theme of the edition, bring it to the square on the morning of the event, and hang it on the lines with clothespins. A wide variety of techniques are allowed: drawing, painting, collage, photomontage, photography, visual poetry, and digital graphics. Works born from different languages thus end up engaging in a dialogue within the same ephemeral installation, which lasts for just one day and is then dismantled, leaving only photographs and shared memories as traces.

An installation that lasts only one day

• Uniform format: all works are A4, so none prevails over the others
• Setup: lines stretched in the square and clothespins, nothing else
• Free and open participation, without selection or jury
• International dimension: the same day, the same theme, in dozens of countries
• Intergenerational character: schools, families, UNITRE members, citizens of all ages

Paliano and its square

Paliano is a hilltop town in the province of Frosinone, overlooking the Sacco Valley and historically linked to the Colonna family, after whom the square hosting the event is named. Piazza Marcantonio Colonna, with its panoramic view and the fabric of stone houses in the historic center, offers a particularly effective setting for La Grande Lessive: the lines stretched between the buildings truly recall the laundry of village alleys, and the artistic gesture fits naturally into the daily image of the community. For those visiting the area, the appointment is also an opportunity to discover the village on a day when the square is unusually lively.

A cultural event, not an exhibition

La Grande Lessive is not an art exhibition in the traditional sense: there is no setup curated by specialists, no selected works, and no prizes. It is rather a relational device that uses art as a pretext to bring together people who might not otherwise speak to each other. In Paliano, this vocation translates into a morning of common work, between those who stretch the lines, those who arrive with their own paper, and those who simply stop to watch: a small civil festival that, every six months, restores the square to its original function as a meeting place.