keyword - social struggle

LA POLIZIA IN VALSUSA / Police in Valsusa

2023

La polizia in Valsusa collects stories and reflections on the military occupation that the Italian state has been carrying out in Valsusa since 2005. The voices in the piece are from people inside the NO TAV movement, 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.

The audio piece does not claim to be an exhaustive documentation of the many past and current incidents involving NO TAV and police. Instead, it tries to offer a picture, as candid and heartfelt as possible, of how the police and the army are perceived and opposed in Valsusa. This leaves room for broader reflections on the repressive nature of the state and the instrumental use of the police.

A Spanish version of the piece has been presented at Tsonami Festival 2022 in Valparaiso, Chile. French and English versions are in progress.

keywords   
audio works info

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

keywords   
artist's publications info

CANTA CHE NON PASSA

2018



DOWNLOAD THE LYRICS OF THE CHANTS.

This 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 age/old people who are 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 that have been created from scratch.

I recorded the choir during one of their rehearsals. Rather than positioning the microphone at a certain distance from the group and capture the multiplicity of voices, I chose to keep the microphone in my hands and point it to the individual voices of those members standing around me. This strategy was designed to stress the fallible and imperfect nature of the chorale and place emphasis on: 1) the singular/plural dimension of collective singing; 2) the vulnerable 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.

Thanks to Mariano, Renato, Fulvio, Gianni, e tutt*.

keywords   
audio works info