Gossip, an ambitious, multi-media performance conceived and realized by Francesca Gabbiani, investigates feminist symbology through dance, electronic music, live percussion, film, poetry, animation, and puppetry. It was commissioned as part of the exhibition Life on Earth: Art & Ecofeminism at The Brick, Los Angeles and performed in two cycles on January 25, 2025. Symbols of plant medicine, domesticity, reproduction, and the aging female body are explored through rich visual depictions and layered soundscapes. The score, composed and directed by Eddie Ruscha, incorporates percussive sweeping, whispered incantations, and live drumming and guitar.

In the early Medieval era, the term gossip – derived from the Old English word godsib, denoting a godparent or close friend – commonly referred to a group of female friends; a woman’s gossip may have included midwives, female relatives, and close companions. By the 1500s, with the rise of the European witch hunts and the persecution of “rebellious” women, gossip became vilified as harmful, idle talk, a historically patriarchal view that persists today. Through her work, Gabbiani challenges this notion while recentering the creative and intellectual power of women gathering, exchanging knowledge, and sharing bonds.