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- Università degli Studi di Siena, department of Political and International Science, Presidio Mattioli, Siena
March 28 - April 27 2019
project E-Words / Europeans Win Ostracism: from Remembrance to a Dialogue Society
photos by Massimo Marini
installation consists of 3 parts: shape 1, shape 2, central area
fabric, fiberglass net, spray paint and copper wire, 187ft(l)x21ft4inch(w)x27ft6inch(h)
central area 28ft2inch(l)x21ft4inch(w)x13ft(h)
shape 1 17¾inch(l)x6ft6inch(w)x27ft6inch(h)
shape 2 7ft(l)x3ft9inch(w)x27ft3inch(h)
photos by Franca Marini
central area 28ft2inch(l)x21ft4inch(w)x13ft(h)
shape 1 17¾inch(l)x6ft6inch(w)x27ft6inch(h)
shape 2 7ft(l)x3ft9inch(w)x27ft3inch(h)
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Transnational Migration and Immigration was originally created for the Human Rights Institute at kean University, Union, NJ, February 1st-June 20 2018. see gallery
It was first reinterpreted by the artist within the 16th century cloister of the Sant'Agostino historical complex, Montalcino, Italy, seat of the Scuola Permanente dell'Abitare, on the occasion of the non ho paura dell'uomo nero ( I am not afraid of the black man) event series (Nov 9-30 2018). see gallery
In the creation of this new reinterpretation, the artist now tried her hand at a contemporary architectural setting, the Mattioli building complex, seat of the department of Political and International Science of the Università degli Studi di Siena, designed by international architect Adolfo Natalini in 2002. For her installation, she chose the central wing of the building complex, a large, long, bright rectangular space which, at its end, opens into the surrounding valley.
The installation by Franca Marini was part of E-Words / Europeans Win Ostracism: from Remembrance to a Dialogue Society, an European project coordinated by Alessandra Viviani, Professor of International Law.
Images of men, women and children packed on makeshift boats risking death at the mercy of the waters of the Mediterranean can not help but change the consciousness and sensibility of all of us. Processing through art this nothing less than momentous tragedy, can be meaningful. As an artist, I feel a deep need and ethical responsibility to do so.
Nevertheless, with this site-specific work, I have attempted to represent not solely a physical journey - that of those who are forced to risk their lives in hope of a different destiny, but also an interior journey, an interior journey of transformation which every man and woman may have to undertake in order to overcome anything that does not allow us to be completely human.
A transformation only possible through the encounter with and acceptance of that which is different, unknown and so to be feared -the threat that the stranger represents in our collective unconscious, which implies the recognition in others of our shared humanity without which a truly just world is not possible.
Remains of what was once a shelter, fragments of everyday objects caught in ripped nets, adrift after a shipwreck, create a sort of theatrical setting which convey feelings of displacement and laceration. From the darkness of a lifeless, desert -like landscape, the viewer is channeled along a path which finally leads to the encounter with those who, having braved death, can now tell us with words and expressions of their present lives.
The video at the end of this imaginary journey features the Togolese migrante, a victim, like many others, of xenophobic intolerance, whose wounding triggered the violent events that took place in Rosarno in 2010.
Franca Marini, January 2018
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photos by Massimo Marini
