keyword - politics

FRAGMENTS FROM THE NO-TAV STRUGGLE

2023

The work consists of a series of stories, personal reflections, and direct experiences from the No TAV struggle, an Italian grassroots movement that has opposed the construction of the second high-speed train line between Turin and Lyon since the early 2000s.

Through the voices of various people involved in the movement, the work brings together some of the central themes of the No TAV struggle, including: the technical flaws and deficiencies of the high-speed project; the relationship between struggle, community and personal growth; and the military defense plan put in place to protect the TAV construction sites.

The first three episodes of the work were broadcast in May 2023 by RAI, the Italian National Radio. The broadcast of the fourth episode was canceled shortly before airing. For this reason, the four episodes are now published in entirety, restoring the integrity and scope of the work. The fourth episode is presented in a longer version than the one originally made for RAI.

The title “(Valsusa Outtakes) Fragments from the No TAV Struggle” refers to the fact that the audio recordings included in the work were taken while I was making field recordings for an archival project on No TAV protest songs (currently in progress). Due to the contents of the recordings, which are not directly related to protest songs, I’ve decided not to include them in the archival project and instead use them for creating a new work.

An English translation of the work is in progress.

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WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE BETWEEN ART AND POLITICS?

2021



Where Do You Draw the Line Between Art and Politics? consists of a series of interviews with individuals who have been active in various capacities at the intersection of art and politics.

Between historical documentation, political memory, dialogic reflections, and motivational support, the publication focuses on the experiences, commitments, and feelings that animate and inform aesthetic priorities in social spaces both within and outside of art institutions; a repository designed to inspire and encourage the politicization of aesthetics, as opposed to the aestheticization of politics.

The people I interviewed are: Pietro Perotti, a Fiat worker and self-appointed worker communicator; Lucia Farinati, a researcher, activist and independent curator; two anonymous members of a hacker collective working in the field of technology and urban space; Errico Canta Male, a singer-songwriter; and Mario “Schizzo” Frisetti and Luca Bruno, of the Torino Squatters.

Read the introduction of the book.

design: Marzia Dalfini with Davide Tidoni
producer: a.pass in collaboration with nadine
publisher: a.pass
distributor: a.pass and Compulsive Archive
number of copies: 500
year: 2021
orders: write to baitabaita AT riseup DOT net

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CANTA CHE NON PASSA

2018



DOWNLOAD THE LYRICS OF THE CHANTS.

The work documents part of the repertoire of the informal choir Canta che non passa (Our Singing Will Stop It). The choir is a spontaneous group of middle aged/elderly people active in the NO TAV* movement in Valsusa, northern Italy. The choir’s repertoire consists mainly of protest songs adapted from preexisting musical sources, with new lyrics created from scratch.

I recorded the choir during one of their meetings. Rather than placing the microphone on a stand, at some distance from the group and capturing the collective dimension of the voices, I chose to move within the choir and point the microphone at the individual voices of the participants. This strategy allowed me to emphasize the imperfect nature of the choir and place emphasis on the singular/plural dimension of the group as well as the uncertain beauty of non-professional voices.

* The NO TAV movement is an Italian grass root struggle that, since the early 2000s, has opposed the construction of the second high-speed train line between Turin and Lyon. More info: brief history of the no tav movement and notav.info.

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audio-based works info

THREE DOGS

2016



Polish translation of Ronald Reagan’s joke about american and communist dogs. The audio was played back in loop for 1 hour on Patelnia Square, Warsaw on the 4th of july 2016 in the occasion of the NATO summit in Poland.

Here’s story about three dogs.
An American dog, a Polish dog and a Russian dog.
They are all having a visit, and the American dog was telling them how things were in his country.
He said, “You know, you bark… after you bark long enough, then somebody comes along, gives you some meat.”
And the polish dog said, “What’s meat?”
And the Russian dog says, “What’s bark?”.

Ronald Reagan – President of the United States

3 dogs

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