ROOM #2
material, time and water, light vs. darkness, positive vs. negative, safe places
within the traces
How can we reveal intangible intuition and transform darkness into light? Why should we want this? Because where light meets darkness, something new and unpredictable emerges. Light represents hope; it brings movement and opens up new perceptions.
For this video, I filmed underwater in the Mediterranean, along the Italian Emilia-Romagna coast, in complete darkness. We used flashlights, but on the dark beach, they barely illuminated what was happening beneath the sea. I filmed without being able to see, as though guided by an “innocent” eye, trusting the power of the sea. The same applied to the actress, who was instructed to search by touch alone – feeling her way through the unseen. An object found on the seashore, coming from the sea and returning to it, became part of the narrative. The video is about searching for the unseen by following the subtle “waves.”
During editing, I inverted the colors of the footage, allowing to discover and surprise.
within the traces | video in b-w, stereo, 4:3 PAL | 6’38” © 2007 Bologna/Italy
with Giulia Casula | sound design by Carlos Sandoval & Astride Schlaefli | photography assistance: Fabio di Camillo and Ernesto Coschignano
This object’s soul used to be a wooden piece found at a beach. The story for the video started there but before this fragil piece needed to be saved and transformed into something lasting. It then became a heavy sculpture inspired by Velimir Chlebnikovs writing “Alphabet of heaven” that visualizes his language of numbers and above all the idea of men reaching out for the universe.
screenings
2013 · La pantalla híbrida (The hybrid screen) curated by Andrea Franco, Fundación Luis Seoane in A Coruña/Spain | 2012 · Imagem Contato : Tactile Image curated by Kika Nicolela in collaboration with videoformes, Mostra de Imagem em Movimento in Sao Paulo/Brazil | 2010 · DA-International Digital Art Festival | National Academy of Art in Sofia/Bulgaria | 2009 · Kurye International Video Festival – Essence/Borders by International Art Expo in Istanbul/Turkey | 2008 · Devenir-écran curated by Oudeis – Le P’tit Comptoir in Le Vigan/France · Videoformes 2008 – XXIIIrd International Video Art and Media Festival – off competition “Videothèque éphémère” in Clermont-Ferrand/France | 2007 · Transvizualia Festival007 Mediascream! – section Videodrom – curated by Malgosia Taraszkiewicz-Zwolicka in Gdynia/Poland · VIDEO.IT con acqua senz’acqua – curated by Francesco Poli, Francesco Bernardelli and Mario Gorni at the Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti Turin/Italy
alphabet of heaven | sculpture made of bronze | about cm 15x15x35
In the short story The Alphabet of Heaven, Chlebnikov, Majakovsky’s mentor, likens a year to a man, with its apex—a triangle’s sharp point—reaching toward the heavens. I envision Chlebnikov’s man as a root, driving growth and the poetic mission. I have engraved on the triangle’s surface the mathematical formulas Chlebnikov used to unveil the intricate links between historical figures and events.
These repetitions weave connections between numbers, forming a surface through which Chlebnikov not only predicts resurrections but underscores the primacy of studying time. From this emerges a miraculous ray—a “train of time” that only the fabric of numbers can grasp.
