Site specific sound installation > two channels,
stereo sound
Useless landscape is a
sound installation made on the occasion of a residency at Fondazione Antonio
Ratti in Como, in Northern Italy. The work is set in a glasshouse in the garden
of the institution, which has a privileged view of the lake for which the city
is known. This small building exemplifies the relationship that the many
palazzi of the region weave with nature: their lush architectural features
serve as "frames" for the lake, which is always present, but invariably at a
distance – a visual, but never tangible, element of the landscape.
Inside the glasshouse, two speakers play an edited version of a song titled "Michelangelo Antonioni", by Brazilian songwriter Caetano Veloso who tries, in this piece, to describe the peculiar – suggestive, indirect – way in which the Italian filmmaker works with his camera: "Vision of silence / Empty angle / Page without words / A written letter / over a face / of Stone and steam / Love / Useless window". The editing consists of the progressive overlap of several loops of the same track, in order to create a sound landscape in which these few words recombine, sometimes producing new meanings, sometimes originating unintelligible sounds.
One row of the house’s windows was also strategically blurred, bringing forth the presence of this translucent element, which acts as an invisible filter between the viewer and the landscape.
Inside the glasshouse, two speakers play an edited version of a song titled "Michelangelo Antonioni", by Brazilian songwriter Caetano Veloso who tries, in this piece, to describe the peculiar – suggestive, indirect – way in which the Italian filmmaker works with his camera: "Vision of silence / Empty angle / Page without words / A written letter / over a face / of Stone and steam / Love / Useless window". The editing consists of the progressive overlap of several loops of the same track, in order to create a sound landscape in which these few words recombine, sometimes producing new meanings, sometimes originating unintelligible sounds.
One row of the house’s windows was also strategically blurred, bringing forth the presence of this translucent element, which acts as an invisible filter between the viewer and the landscape.
Video > digital, 7", color, stereo sound