Hand is the workshop title that Francesca Grilli conceived and carried out, along with the curator and trainer. This event was directed to thirty-four students and entrepreneurs from the Marche region and took place at Polo Museale di San Francesco in Montefiore dell’Aso, Ascoli Piceno.

This workshop was structured as a body-reading laboratory and was especially focused on the hand lines interpretation, hence the title, Hand. Hands say a lot about who we are: they are one of the most used body part in communication, they seal new meetings and agreements, and they are perfect working tools. The activity was split in two steps: firstly there was a painting phase, in which participants, through colors, learned how to take a handprint, in order to have an overall vision of all of the hand lines. During the second step a hand study was carried out: shape, color, softness, touch, and elasticity. The artist was aided by a palmistry expert and they pursued the goal of making participants aware that a person’s personality can be represented by his or her body, by stimulating a more instinctive and free reading. During the workshop final step, through the palmistry basic elements learned during the day, participants exchanged mutual hand reading: the different stories have been recorded in a soundtrack that, along with the handprints, composed the final workshop outcome: an audio/video installation made by the artist and the participants.

The workshop was carried out within the “Cult Lab – Impresa culturale spin off”, promoted by Meccano Spa, Università di Urbino “Carlo Bo” and Università di Macerata. It was a networking occasion between cultural projects and the enterprise sector, encouraging development opportunities that this meeting might lead to.