Castello

Installation and performance during IN/SU/LA,  the festival for contemporary art on the island of Ventotene (Italy), summer 2017

Materials: Wood, thermal blankets

photos (3-6): courtesy Alessio Castagna

During the art festival IN/SU/LA, curated by Yvonne Andreini and Alessio Castagna, artists and cultural operators active in Italy and Germany were invited to reflect on the notion of “islands”. All participating artists were invited to to reflect on the local history of the island made up of exiles of important political figures, for example the exile of Julia, the daughter of the emperor Augustus, or that of Altiero Spinelli, who wrote the manifesto of Europe in Ventotene, together with other political exiles of the time. IN/SU/LA also encouraged interaction between the invited artists and the local population.

The work “Castello” reflects on the role of Ventotene as the place where the idea of the European integration was born but also, in general terms, on the metaphorical meaning of an island in the Mediterranean Sea in our times.  The installation of a little hut, a fragile castle made of fake gold, acts as a metaphor for Europe as a place of longing for a golden future.

The performance consisted in the symbolic conquest of the offshore island in the bay of Ventotene.