ALESSANDRA MESSALI Selected Works 2009-2020 - Italian Area
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ALESSANDRA MESSALI
Selected Works 2009-2020
My long-term collaborative which for me represent narratives of a discourse on the
projects are organized into independent thinking and free same theme, which has in turn
two levels of research, that of speech, recur as the thematic been tackled by many others
contents and that of languages. and formal constant in a number before me. In this multiplicity
During this process, the urge to of works. of voices, I take solace in the
broaden the scope of the themes fact that mine will not be a final
I deal with goes hand in hand The reference to the archive interpretation.
with the study of performative is not immediately apparent
and narrative practices that are in my practice, even though
currently in use in the territories my projects invariably develop
I am investigating. I always start by constantly referring to the
from finding a flaw that I want to document material that is
try and shift. The reason for this behind them. In fact, they are
tendency of mine lies first of all in fuelled by those testimonies
my relationship with tangible and which spontaneously stem from
intangible things. practices and last in time thus
ensuring memory is transmitted,
Proceeding by means of i.e. what we could here call
experiments, my works are archive material.
often like activities that follow
the characteristics of the actual What I try to achieve in my
languages belonging to the work I think can be considered
contexts I am working in. In a as a staging of the archive, as
way, they can also be considered a sort of subjectivation of the
like the product of a negotiation document material I start from. +39 340 8590715
process between what I would Consequently, my projects alessandra.messali@gmail.com
like to do and what is actually belong to the history of the skype: alessandra.messali
accomplished. dissemination of the sources www.italianarea.it/artista.
Along this process, the amateur themselves. So, my operation php?artista=MEAL&let=M#alfabeto_
and the concept of amateurism, becomes one of the possible artists
Ahimè! [a tre voci]
video HD, 4:3, color, sound
11’:36’’
Torino, 2019
This project is the result of a Marc Bloch has interpreted the
research held during the residency knowledge of the past as an
program present_continuous “evolving thing” and remarked
curated by ARTECO. how an unexpected event, that
of subjectivation, lies at the
Text by Beatrice Zanelli (ARTECO) foundation of every documentary
research, Messali, in her
At a day and age when the new historiographical practice, takes
possibilities offered by digital this risk and reverses its meaning
archiving are inevitably shifting the so as to make it part and parcel of
paradigm of the relationship man the research process.
has with the conservation of tangible
heritage, the artist Alessandra From the intangible realm of
Messali explored the archetypical meaning and memory the Archive
notion of archive during her as an institution represents,
present_continuous residency. Messali moves on to the tangible
one of the traces that are left in it
After a preliminary survey at the and their perishability. On the one
Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria hand, she furthers the analysis of
di Torino, she interpreted the the randomness and discontinuity
large prints collection as a device of the preservation of art historical
to tackle the controversial and heritage, whose survival is
unresolved key issue of what dictated by ever-changing
purpose archives (in the broadest interpretative frameworks and
sense) have today, considered as their relative reception systems.
containers of a cultural legacy to
pass onto the next generation.
https://vimeo.com/374882561
password: 05112010
In some ways, unscathed by the
historical approach which since › Sezione Corte, Archivio di Stato di Torino
Ahimè! [a tre voci]
video HD, 4:3, color, sound
11’:36’’
Torino, 2019
On the other hand, she studies This work is divided into four
the archive as a biological body, chapters each devoted to
trying to outline our relationship a subject concerning some
with tangible objects, time and autobiographical circumstances
(historical and meta-historical) the artist has experienced in the
narration. months spent in Turin.
Every scene tangibly conveys the
This investigation resulted in the comparison between man’s inner
project AHIMÈ! [a tre voci] - (Alas! claim to survival and the element
[In Three Voices]), a video in of transience symptomatic of
which the spaces designed by existence.
Filippo Juvarra in the Sezione
Corte at the Archivio di Stato* di * The palace represents the archetypical
shape of the Archive, designed by Filippo
Torino become an extra-theatrical Juvarra between 1731 and 1733, it was
device, a place of the mind, conceived as an Archive from the start
in which subjects interact with constituting a unicum in its kind and its
time. Cf. Fea 2006.
the unusual interiors, made of
boiseries and massive wooden
ladders used to recover archive
material. The ladders are indeed
one of the main apparatuses
as they take on a meaning that
is far from their current primary
purpose, but has rather to do
with the motion of conservators
and archivists, which “suggest
restlessness, an ascending and
› Sezione Corte, Archivio di Stato di Torino
descending motion perpetuated › Ahimè! [a tre voci], installation view, Sezione
by bodies in time”. [taken from Corte Archivio di Stato di Torino, 2019. Ph:
Appunti di Alessandra Messali] Abbruzzese Studio.
Ahimè! [a tre voci]
video HD, 4:3, color, sound
11’:36’’
Torino, 2019
“Like the 19th-century rifle given
to the grandson without his
father’s knowledge – it was the
1950s – which was hidden, tied
up with string, underneath the
mesh net of the bed. The simple
trigger was made of iron, and the
sights sculpted and engraved with
leaves. The secret passion of the
grandfather and his son’s son.
Now the buttstock in walnut wood
in the shape of a duck’s head lies
by the hoary face of the grandson
on its cheek piece at the Torneo
Vej Piemont, Muzzleload
Speciality at the National Rifle
Range Section in Turin, Via Reiss
Romoli no. 62.
The firearm and the powder flask
in copper are the same as ever,
grasping firmly onto the time
of the ageing man, who blows,
shines and greases. Each shot
of the harquebus rings out and
asserts itself.”
› Sezione Corte, Archivio di Stato di Torino
› Ahimè! [a tre voci], Installation view, Sezione
[taken from Ahimè! [a tre voci] ] Corte Archivio di Stato di Torino, 2019. Ph:
Abbruzzese Studio.
LO SLANCIO
Museographic incursion in the
Museo della Specola
Bologna, 2018
Text by Giulia Morucchio and over nearly two centuries, of
Irene Rossini astronomical instruments and
practices, offering multiple
The Specola of Palazzo Poggi readings, some more historically
climbs within the tower which and others more technically
served as an observatory since oriented. Like other scientific
the beginning of the 18th century collections, this one too is
- the age of its construction - intrinsically linked to the
until mid- 20th century, when performative context: in order
Bologna’s city light pollution for it to be readable for first
definitively stopped its activity, time viewers, especially non-
forcing the scholars to look specialists, the collection needs
elsewhere for darkness. Recently to be recounted.
reopened as an exhibition At the Specola this need for
space, the Specola now hosts a divulgation is met by the very
collection that tells the story not way in which visitors access the
only of the tower but also of the museum: only in small groups
different systems of thought and led by tour guides who tell the
paradigms linked to the history of story of the materials on display
astronomy, through the display while moving from room to room.
of instruments - astrolabes, During the tours, as in themed
telescopes, star charts, tours, the collection is rearranged
calculators, diaries - used by the along paths that differ from time
researchers who once occupied to time, adapting also to the
the tower’s rooms. visitors’ competencies.
From the museographic
https://vimeo.com/375417279
perspective, the collection hosted password: 05112010
here is a complex one, illustrating
the development and evolution, › Lo Slancio, Bologna, 2018
LO SLANCIO Museographic incursion in the Museo della Specola Bologna, 2018 Alessandra Messali’s intervention highly significant phenomena, like finds its role precisely in the variable stars. possibility of creating multiple levels of narration within the collection. Lo Slancio is dedicated to the For Lo Slancio (The Impetus), amateur astronomer - literally the artist chose to work on the the lover of stars - to exalt their relationship between astronomy role and poetic mission: they and amateur astronomers. are the ones who spend their Unlike astronomers, lay observers spare time in the sky, cultivating look up to the sky not for work but information and knowledge that for passion or vocation. They are require sophisticated techniques non-professionals, dilettantes, and constant study to master the amateurs; terms that commonly, subject. Unlike the astronomer, and misleadingly, indicate a the amateur’s knowledge does not product deemed qualitatively pertain to working time, intended inferior to those of formal, as the time of paid employment, official science. And yet in the but it is rather time freely devoted field of astronomy, more than in to monitoring portions of the sky or other scientific disciplines, this particular celestial phenomena. distinction would seem to have Not surprisingly, in fact, the activity been completely overcome. Over of amateur astronomers is often time, amateur astronomers have connected with associations and collaborated more and more often recreational circles: they usually with the professionals, studying meet in groups or clubs named stars, comets and planets, after the city where they are generating an incredible quantity of data that have later been › Tower of La Specola di Bologna confirmed and used in astronomy › Lo Slancio, pin and physics; they have even › Lo Slancio, tour guide: Sara Giuliacci, Museo collaborated in the mapping of della Specola di Bologna, 2018
LO SLANCIO
Museographic incursion in the
Museo della Specola
Bologna, 2018
located. These associations nonacademic practice which, here,
provide practical solutions to a claims its own identity.
series of needs, such as access to
specific instruments, technologies, * Dati UAI, aggiornati al 2012, www.uai.it
areas shielded from the lights of
the city, but at the same time they
offer the possibility of meeting The guided tour was carried
other enthusiasts of the subject, out by the museum’s guides
thus encouraging a community Arianna Carli, Carlo Livon, Andrea
practice of exchange of scientific D’Angelo and Sara Giuliacci
knowledge and information and from a text written by Alessandra
dissemination to the lay public. Messali. To consolidate the
In Italy there are 332 amateur narration there was the inclusion,
astronomic associations and within the permanent collection
78 amateur observatories*, of the Specola, of materials and
often constructed by the group’s amatorial productions, collected
members themselves. Besides together with some Italian
the local associations, there is the amateur astronomer associations.
Unione Astrofili Italiani, UAI (Union
of Italian Amateur Astronomers)
which coordinates the different
groups and functions as a network,
linking the local entities, assigning
and distributing fields of research
and observation activities. › Circolo Astrofili Guido Ruggieri di Mestre,
Some of these associations have observation night at Forte Gazzera, 2009
been involved in our project, › Lo Slancio, Romano Serra, guida: Andrea
d’Angelo, Museo della Specola di Bologna,
in an attempt to trace, through 2018
dialogue and exchange, a narration, › Lo Slancio, Romano Serra, Museo della
as open as possible, of this Specola di Bologna, 2018
LO SLANCIO
Museographic incursion in the
Museo della Specola
Bologna, 2018
[Glass Case: GAPERS’ meteorites] of all-sky photographic imaging
from 1950 until 2000, when
“The meteorites exhibited here electronic detectors took over.
were collected by Romano If you approach the light table,
Serra - GAPERS (Gruppo Astrofili you can see the high resolution
Persicetani) - during different images of the moon and the
expeditions in the Sahara sun, alternated with private glass
desert; his interest focussed on negatives probably taken by
studies related to the impact of AAB to test the functioning of
extraterrestrial bodies. the instrument.”
Each meteorite is displayed in
correspondence with a photograph [taken from Lo Slancio guided tour]
taken by Serra in the place where
the rock was found.
This highlight an approach to
astrophilia as practice of life and
research.”
---
[Light Table: AAB glass negatives
and glass negatives from the
Museo della Specola collection]
“The glass negatives on display
were created with the Schmidt › Lo Slancio, glass negative, Associazione
Astrofili Bolognesi, Museo della Specola di
Camera, a complex instrument
Bologna, 2018
self-built by the AAB (Associazione › Lo Slancio, Astrophilia as practice of life and
Astrofili Bolognesi).The Schmidt research, Museo della Specola di Bologna,
Camera was the major source 2018
LO SLANCIO
Museographic incursion in the
Museo della Specola
Bologna, 2018
[Observatory: Schmidt Camera]
“The Schmidt Camera is a special
long-range telescope that, thanks
to a transparent corrector plate
(an aspheric lens which corrects
the spherical aberration), can
cover dozens of square degrees
of sky in one shot. The image is
then focused and imprinted on a
photographic glass plate.
The Schmidt Camera on display
was built by Leone Orsi in
1970, who was a member of
the AAB (Associazione Astrofili
Bolognesi).Leone Orsi was a
lathe operator who, like other
amateur astronomers, used to
self-build the tools necessary for
his practice. Often these tools
were made by recycling waste
components recovered from http://atpdiary.com/alessandra-messali-
household appliances, in this case museo-specola-bol/
a washing machine engine.” http://www.exibart.com/notizia.
asp?IDNotizia=56349&IDCategoria=204
[taken from Lo Slancio guided tour]
› Lo Slancio, Gruppo Astrofili Guido Ruggeri
di Mestre, observation, 2002
› Lo Slancio, self-built Camera Schmidt,
Associazione Astrofili Bolognesi, Museo
della Specola di Bologna, 2018
EMILIO SALGARI AND THE
TIGER - a story written in far
away Italy, set in Guwahati 1870
Guwahati, 2016
This project is the result of with the journalist and historian
research held during the Kumudeswar Hazarica, Guwahati
Guwahati Research Program University (History department,
(Microclima), Assam (IND) in prof. Paromita Das), Cotton
2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. College (English department,
prof. Santanu Phukan) and
Emilio Salgari (Verona 1862, Handique Girls’ College (English
Torino 1911) was a popular Italian department, prof. Mitali Goswami
writer who published more than and Tasrina Iqbal).
200 adventure stories. Although With students from the
set in exotic locations, he never Handique Girls’ College (English
travelled outside of Italy, gaining department) and with the
inspiration through foreign technical support of Giuseppe
literature, newspapers, travel Abate I translated the results of
magazines and encyclopedias. the research into a theatre play
In between 1907-1911 Emilio that was held in the Assam State
Salgari published four books, Museum’ public garden on 26th
Alla conquista di un impero March 2016.
(Quest for a Throne), Il Bramino
dell’Assam (The False Brahman),
La caduta di un impero (An
Empire Crumbles) and La rivincita
di Yanez (Yanez’ Revenge) set
https://vimeo.com/218983251
in Guwahati, at that time under
password: 05112010
British colonial rule.
https://issuu.com/alessandra.messali/
docs/00_emilio_salgari_and_the_tiger_pub
In Emilio Salgari and The Tiger,
I worked on these four books https://issuu.com/alessandra.messali/
analyzing the incongruity between docs/articoli_emilio_salgari_e_la_tigre
text and context in collaboration › Talk at Handique Girls’ College, 2016EMILIO SALGARI AND THE
TIGER - a story written in far
away Italy, set in Guwahati 1870
Guwahati, 2016
The city of Guwahati is the Note on stage set up: Open air
capital of Assam (IND). It is also theatre. The stage is octagonal
the largest metropolitan area and at the ground level as it is in
in North- Eastern India. It is the traditional Assamese theatre.
said to be the ‘gateway’ to the
North East region.
The city is situated on
the southern bank of the
Brahmaputra river, a trans-
boundary river and one of the
major rivers of Asia. Guwahati
is an important commercial and
educational center in North
-Eastern India and is the third
fastest growing city in the
country.
Note on theater play: The play
is divided in three acts: The
Forest, The Brahmaputra River,
and The City.
In the play there are four
› Picture taken from the book: G. Ferrario,
narrators speaking in Assamese Il costume antico e moderno, o, storia del governo,
and English. The actors use della milizia, della religione, delle arti, scienze ed
only body language in relation usanze di tutti i popoli antichi e moderni, provata
with the narrators’ voice-over. coi monumenti dell’antichità e rappresentata cogli
analoghi disegni; Milano 1816-1829
Script, scenery, and costumes
› Stage, Emilio Salgari and The Tiger, Assam
are drawn from Emilio Salgari’s State Museum, 2016
books focusing on the incongruity › Rehearsal, Handique Girls’ College, group
between text and context. picture, 2016EMILIO SALGARI AND THE
TIGER - a story written in far
away Italy, set in Guwahati 1870
Guwahati, 2016
Actors and collaborators: Set Designers: Trina Barman,
Olindita Bennett, Charusmita
Sandokan: Barsha Deka Brahma, Ujala Das, Radhika
Yanez: Phulm Maya Rai Madhukallya, Sneha Medhi,
Tremal-Naik: Urmilla Gohain Phulm Maya Rai, Vasudha Roy
Kammamuri: Anjeleena Hussain Make Up: Ujala Das, Sneha
Surama: Dhyani Mohan Medhi, Vasudha Roy, Production
Sindhia: Angana Chakravarty Photographer: Khamseng
Pirates: Joyshree Buragohain Bohagi
and Trisha Goswami Photographer: Tina Choudhury
Guards: Priti Rani Basumatary
and Anamika Das
Tiger: Charusmita Brahma
Fish: Priti Rani Basumatary and
Charusmita Brahma
Assamese Narrators: Juri
Baishya and Arpita Das
English Narrators: Shazia
Hazarika and Shrwana Talukdar
Dancers: Olindita Bennett,
Arpita Das, Sanghamitra Das,
Chayanika Gogoi, Dhyani Mohan,
Runja Priya Pathak, Nisha
Talukdar
Singers: Sharmistha Dutta,
Bhaswati Devi Sharma,
Bonhishikha Manab, Anamika
› Sindhia (Angana Chakravarty), rehearsal,
Saikia Assam State Museum, 2016
Set Design Director: Giuseppe › Rehearsal, all’Handique Girls’ College, 2016
Abate › Rehearsal, all’Handique Girls’ College, 2016EMILIO SALGARI AND THE
TIGER - a story written in far
away Italy, set in Guwahati 1870
Guwahati, 2016
“ARPITA/SHAZIA: The landscape
slowly began to change. The
heat, humidity and rich soil
allowed the forest to grow florid
in the land. Bamboo trees,
shrubs, banana trees, peepal
trees, and tara palms sprout as if
by magic; the fields were quickly
transformed into lush jungles.
home for tigers, panthers,
snakes, and rhinoceroses.
Enter SANDOKAN, SURAMA,
TREMAL-NIKE and
KAMMAMURI
It was early morning, back in
1880, when Sandokan, Surama,
Tremal-Naik and Kammamuri
began their journey through
the dangerous jungle. They
were going to Sadiya, in upper
Assam, to ask the help of hillmen
warriors army.”
[taken from Emilio Salgari and › Stage, Emilio Salgari and The Tiger, Assam
State Museum, 2016
The Tiger. Text: Emilio Salgari]
› Emilio Salgari and The Tiger, Prologue,
Assam State Museum, 2016
› Emilio Salgari and The Tiger, Act II, Assam
State Museum, 2016EMILIO SALGARI AND THE
TIGER - a story written in far
away Italy, set in Guwahati 1870
Guwahati, 2016
On March 7th 2017 the Assam The Assam State Museum,
State Museum and Microclima founded in 1940, offers different
presented Good Horn, Good sections – from archeology,
Brakes, Good Luck II. Through sculptures, paintings, to
the works of six italian based costumes - which display
artists, the exhibition presented different aspects of the history
research conducted during the and culture of Assam.
Guwahati Research Program
between 2011 and 2017. The video installation Emilio
Salgari and the Tiger sumed up
Good Horn, Good Brakes, the documentation of the play
Good Luck II was the second and presented a publication
chapter of the namesake relating to the project edited by
exhibition that took place at Orchid Publication in assamese,
Greenhouse of the Biennale english and italian (2017).
Gardens in August 2015. The title
of the exibition came from
a popular motto connected to the
safety programs that exist
to counter the dangerous traffic
situations. Six years after the
beginning of the project, Mr. Y.
S. Wunglengton, Director of the
Assam State Museum, invited
the group of artists to show their › Props, Emilio Salgari and The Tiger, Assam
works alongside the permanent State Museum, 2016
collection of the museum. Five › Emilio Salgari and The Tiger, Good Horn,
Good Brakes, Good Luck II, Assam State
projects were displayed in Museum, 2017
dialogue with the ethnographic › Emilio Salgari and The Tiger, publication
gallery and the textile collection. edited by Orchid Publication, 2017QUANDO IL VENTO È FERMO
NON SI MUOVE FOGLIA
Rudiano, 29.07.2011
Giovanni Paneroni (Rudiano, lean and break. The Americans
1871 - Rudiano, 1950) was a below us at night would go down,
Ptolemaic Astronomer who, down, as if tumbling into the
starting in 1920s elaborated cellar. Roof tiles would fall, along
a theory according to which with money, pipe and hat, all
the earth was flat, infinite, raw, falling into the void.”
dead, still, cold and not round (Giovanni Paneroni’s memories)
in the slightest. Because of
his unconventional theory he He rejected a common belief
was socially marginalized and such as the heliocentric theory by
persecuted by the fascist regime. proposing an anthropocentric one,
which was a better alternative
After two years of research on for him. Paneroni’s work was his
Giovanni Paneroni’s theories saving grace, offering a world
and memories, one of the things he found more familiar and
that triggered my interest was to reassuring.
investigate the roots of his thesis,
setting aside the anecdotic aspect. His earth was still and placed in
the center. It was the center. It
Following my studies, the existed infinitely in every direction
birth of his theory is due to the except in the space dedicated to
sense of helplessness, fear and the celestial vault. The stars were
disorientation that the Astronomer extremely small in size and their
felt during the study of the motion was totally dependent
Galilean theory of motion: and functional to the existence of
man and Earth System.
“ […] Ornaments would all fall
about, the rivers would pour out of
the river beds, descents would › World Map designed by Giovanni
become climbs, towers would Paneroni, Rudiano, ITQUANDO IL VENTO È FERMO
NON SI MUOVE FOGLIA
Rudiano, 29.07.2011
During the formulation of his Text, set design and lighting by
Thesis Paneroni never used Giovanni Paneroni
tools. He relied exclusively on Directed by Alessandra Messali
phenomena that could be seen With Luca Bassi Andreasi
with the naked eye.
Quando il vento è fermo non si
muove foglia (When the Wind
is Still, Not One Leaf Moves)
moves translate his thought,
removing it from the field of
science, giving weight to the
questioning of such a commonly
accepted concept as that of the
heliocentric theory.
The study of astronomy is thus
reinterpreted as a study for a
theatre play, the charts provide
the scenery, the solar system is
the lighting grid, and the script
draws on memories. http://vimeo.com/29753168
password: 05112010
Quando il vento è fermo non https://issuu.com/alessandra.messali/docs/
si muove foglia was held in drammaturgia_quando_il_vento_e___fe
2011 in Rudiano (Paneroni’s
birthplace) in Piazzetta Vicolo › Solar System designed by Giovanni
Paneroni, Rudiano, IT
Fossa, the same square where › Poster, Quando il vento è fermo non si muove
the Astronomer used to work as foglia, 29.07.2011, Rudiano, IT. Realizzata in
an ice-cream maker. collaborazione con Roberto FassoneQUANDO IL VENTO È FERMO NON SI MUOVE FOGLIA Rudiano, 29.07.2011 “At last there came an almighty of all pupils. Sunlight never creational force, perhaps a god, disappears.” an explosion, and he understood that this Ear th felt the need [taken from Quando il vento è of being heated and lit. And in fermo non si muove foglia] order to create this great and almighty energy of creative will, he cried: let there be light, and there was light. [Lighting] We see three layers: the first layer is the Earth with its bottomless foundations; the second is the void given over to the various movements of airborne objects: clouds, aeroplanes, birds and fog. The third layer is that of the endless wandering of fiery bodies: the sun, the moon and the stars. Why do fireflies exist? To show you all what light is and what it does; thus you should be aware that light is not an opaque body ; the eye itself feeds on light, for › Giovanni Paneroni’s tombstone, Rudiano, IT without light the eye withers › Quando il vento è fermo non si muove foglia, and dies. The sun is the father 29.07.2011, Rudiano, IT
QUANDO IL VENTO È FERMO
NON SI MUOVE FOGLIA
Rudiano, 29.07.2011
“Two wheels may be seen, dead, and it is infinite.
bearing the revolution of the It is entirely alone and infinite
sun: imagine that circular line and endless underground a sit
to be enormous, vast, 40,000 is on the surface. No expedition
Kilometres long. will ever be able to find its outer
The sun travels along this path limits.”
and never loses its way although
there are no tracks to guide it. [taken from Quando il vento è
It revolves rapidly all year long, fermo non si muove foglia]
and makes two movements: one
rotation and one evolution.
It completes that path in 24 hours,
always maintaining the altitude of
1,000 kilometres.
As it travels to the on-looking eye
it appears to trace an arch, but
it never completes that arch. For
12 hours it passes across the
Americans to bring daylight, and
for 12 hours more it moves from
West to the East.
The sun does not pass under
the earth but over it. The main
thing to be understood is that the
sun never rises and never sets
› Stage, Rudiano, IT
anywhere. The earth, instead of
› Quando il vento è fermo non si muove foglia,
being round, is flat. 29.07.2011, Rudiano, IT
› Quando il vento è fermo non si muove foglia,
The earth is still, cold, deaf, raw, 29.07.2011, Rudiano, ITQUANDO IL VENTO È FERMO
NON SI MUOVE FOGLIA
Rudiano, 29.07.2011
“Even when I went to school, spots being spots being already
astronomy always made me taken, I had to put up with the
sharpen my wits, weigh up the torture of the searing heat of the
pros and cons, but a thought sun which made all my sweets
inculcated in infancy is hard to and ice-creams melt. Thus mine
extirpate. is both a passion and a torture.
Goddamn sun.”
I was forced to change my mind
by the field in which I then went [taken from Quando il vento è
to work, that of sweets and ice- fermo non si muove foglia]
cream. Both of these summer
jobs led me to hate the sun, for in
the time spent selling my wares,
it was necessary to take shelter
from the sun and its heat.
I had to do everything I could to
get myself a place in the shade.
But the shade turns while the
earth does not.
Throughout the day, the shadows
of things continue to walk and
change place, running behind us
as the sun goes down, and all
these changes of place made me › Lightening engine, illuminotecnica,
so angry that it made me swear Rudiano, IT
› Quando il vento è fermo non si muove foglia,
and even curse the sun. In fact, 29.07.2011, Rudiano, IT
a while after not being able to › Quando il vento è fermo non si muove foglia,
change place due to the better 29.07.2011, Rudiano, ITKINDERGARTEN SHOW
1991/2009
video, MiniDV, 4:3, color, sound
45’:00’’
Castelcovati, 2009
An end-of-year school play: identities that have taken shape,
about sixty children are acting, but also by the new atmosphere
singing, dancing to celebrate the in which the play is being
end of their childhood. They are performed. The children are
between five and six years old, grown-up and the mellow nature
they are near to leave nursery of VHS images is replaced by the
school and get ready for primary clarity of digital ones.
school. It is 1991.
Both the shows were held in
In 2009, after eighteen years, San Giovanni Bosco Theater in
the grown-up children are on the Castelcovati, Brescia, IT.
stage again and are confronted
with the same script, the same
frivolous songs, the same
childish ballets.
Kindergarten Show 1991/2009
is a remake of the author’s
end-of-year school play.
Present-day shots are interwoven
with the original ones, whose
amateurish point of view is kept in
the new version. Lines expressing
children’s love for their parents
(the whole script is dedicated to
the mother’s day) have now a
different significance: between the https://vimeo.com/22935961
password: 05112010
script and the actors there
is a more active relationship, › Kindergarten Show 1991/2009, Prelude,
determined by the interplay of the video stillKINDERGARTEN SHOW
1991/2009
video, MiniDV, 4:3, color, sound
45’:00’’
Castelcovati, 2009
(sing)
S: kind moms
K: kind moms
S: pretty moms
B: pretty moms
S: in our path
B: in our path
S: you are the stars
B: you are the stars
ALL: we love you with all our
hearts. We think of you with lots of
love. Moms, we’ll be good to you
and we’ll love you forever,
we’ll keep our promises moms
mommies, forever and ever.
(act)
[taken from Kindergarten Show
1991/2009]
› Kindergarten Show 1991/2009, I Act
Gli indiani, video still
› Kindergarten Show 1991/2009, II Act
Bambine e stelle, video still
› Kindergarten Show 1991/2009, II Act
Bambine e stelle, video stillKINDERGARTEN SHOW
1991/2009
video, MiniDV, 4:3, color, sound
45’:00’’
Castelcovati, 2009
(act)
F: It’s a great thing to be
autumn’s elfs
S: today we have worked all day
painting the forest leafs gold
D: and we opened many
chestnuts husks
S: of course! They have to smile
for mother’s day!
(sing)
ALL: we are the elfs of this wood
and we are happy to work for this
celebration.
With vanity and a lots of love We
give to the wood the best colour
(act)
ALL: we are so tired
[taken from Kindergarten Show
1991/2009] › Kindergarten Show 1991/2009, Prelude,
video still
› Kindergarten Show 1991/2009, I Act Gli
Indiani, video still
› Kindergarten Show 1991/2009, III Act Fate e
elfi, video still+39 340 8590715 alessandra.messali@gmail.com skype: alessandra.messali
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