Screening at SPARWASSER HQ

The video artist and performer Francesca Grilli (1978, Bologna, Italy) will present two of her latest works: Arriverà e ci coglierà di sorpresa, a video documentation of a performance presented at the International Prize for Performance (Centrale di Fies – Trento, Italy) in 2006, and 194.9 MHz (digital video, 2006, 5’ 22). Both works are based on memories, which are elaborated and shaped by Francesca Grilli according to her own personal vision, in order to create an alteration of space and time, a sort of
“transfiguration of the everyday life”, permeated by the interest in displaying “ situations where strength and fragility coexist”, as the artist herself declares.

Awarded second prize for “the capacity to evoke a sense of solitude and abandonment in a poetic way with the inventive use of the space and timing”, Arriverà e ci coglierà di sorpresa (Eng.: It will come and take us by surprise) deals with themes of ageing and the approach of death. The viewer is introduced to a pair of elderly ballroom dancers that move along a dark, empty hall under a flood light, moving to the rhythm of various melodies. Meanwhile, a huge projection of a bright coloured dance hall is
shown in the background. As the artist herself states, this project “comes from a memory, a common scenario in the area where she grew up, Emilia, and part of her family history”.
The aim of Francesca Grilli is to point out the vitality and fascinating appearance of the two characters rather than remark on their old age – as if they could dance on and on with persisting devotion, facing the ghost of the passing of time, until finally, death arrives (as the title suggests). “I’ve always thought that death was just an idea. I like to think of death and of growing old only as a constant illusion of life, as if they will never
come. As if you never see the end” says the artist concerning her work.

194.9 MHz is the final action/reaction result of a series of interviews made by Francesca Grilli with all members of her family. After her initial introspective research oriented to making closer family connections, she drew inspiration from an episode of her father’s life. 194.9 MHz thus focuses on the relation between the artist and her father, Franco (the title, indicating a radio frequency, refers to her father’s birth year). The voice-over narration in the video is in fact that of the artist’s original interview with her father.
It recounts a painful childhood trauma, when after his little brother’s death, Franco’s mother forbid listening to the radio at home. Drawing on this memory, Francesca Grilli created a performance in which, with a radio antenna on her back, she climbed a mountain (which in a metaphorical sense for her represents stability and eternity) till the top, where she finally placed the antenna. As the artist has declared, behind this perfor
mative work is the intent “to assign art and narration the roles of therapy and gift”, the attempt to find a “possibility to deal with so painful an issue in a constructive way”.

Francesca Cogoni
SPARWASSER HQ, Berlin