EN
In a historical period marked by high interactivity with the content we consume, we are still far from overcoming the state of passivity described by Guy Debord in 1967 when observing television media. The sheer volume of this content, combined with the fact that it is often unrelated to each other (thus not leading to a coherent discourse or reasoning), keeps the consumer in a passive role: they merely skim through their feed superficially, without the need to engage deeply to understand what they see.
Countless themes populate the feeds of major channels, rapidly alternating from minute to minute. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify common threads, topics that continue to resurface in the period we are living in because they are capable of igniting outrage, which is one of the primary emotions driving the spread of news in recent years.
One such topic is censorship. It has made a comeback, closely tied to historical revisionism and civil rights, making it a particularly sensitive subject with numerous possible interpretations and a variety of perspectives that keep the discussion alive.
Censorship, when implemented, immediately raises alarm bells. "What" has been censored? "Why?" One immediately wonders what is being concealed and seeks to understand, as the act of censoring something is seen as deserving of secrecy, sparking the viewer's curiosity.
I have worked on this concept and that of distraction. Yes, because if censoring something is, conversely, shining a spotlight on it, then leaving a subject in plain sight is akin to hiding it, normalizing it. I have censored parts of the Italian territory because I believe they deserve the public's attention. This is how I envision the future: a future where we focus on what directly concerns us as individual citizens, particularly on the geopolitical power plays that increasingly affect us directly.
The parts of the territory I have censored are American bases located in Italy. Formally, one could say that they are Italian bases inhabited by U.S. personnel, but given the vast quantity of weapons and foreign military personnel present, we can safely say that Italian sovereignty within them is not guaranteed. One only needs to recall the Sigonella crisis of 1985.
The topic of NATO bases in Italy is, of course, a pretext to discuss the geopolitical dominance of the United States over Italy, a topic that, despite being evident to all, is addressed in the only way available to us: passively and respectfully, almost as if we were speaking in hushed tones about a mafia boss who controls the area where we live.
With this project, I aim to generate interest in the topic and increase awareness of Italy's position on the international stage.
My project partially recalls the work of Mishka Henner from 2011, "Dutch Landscapes," in which the artist identified Dutch territories censored by the state on online maps, sometimes for military reasons but often without apparent justification, as they were ordinary residential areas. The public's attention, however, was already ignited by the "mystery" created by this censorship.
The title of the project, "Evidenze," emphasizes that the contents of the work are in plain view for everyone to see, while playing with the English false friend, "evidence," which means "proof": tangible evidence.
