Riccardo's first draft ToP

1. What have you been making? 2. How did you do it? (method) 3. Relation to previous practice

Through different means during this year I have been relating with color and light, focusing on their technological staging and contextual meaning. By taking in consideration theories on visual perception as much as playful approaches involving the emplacement of light and colours, I have been observing how from-human-to-objects we all interact with these emanations. My approach deploys a durational time-based practice based on the contemplation of atmospheric changes that take places in both site-specific and synthetic landscapes. As a way to understand different cultural values and create narrations that traverse diverse level of understanding, I am growing more and more interest toward the relation between light rendered by computational engines and light emitted by our sun. On this line, simulation technologies become tools to reflect on our experience as much as brushes to create atmospheric stories. Sampling techniques, feedback loops, procedural textures and light simulation algorithms: these are the ingredients with which I develop video animations. Inspired by practices as dance and music I am interest in the movements between postures, and the pace with which these changes are carried: sometimes this lead to animated movies, others to virtual photographies.

Opacity, transparency, this physical dynamics of overlaying and overlapping, inspire my choices and structures my workflow. It is present in my practice of digital animation as much as in my practice of natural observation, carried on by filming wind and light hitting surfaces as leafs, water and flags - as can be seen in the short film Yellow message.

Underpinning my interest for waves, there is the wish to understand and activate celebrative actions and ritualistic forms of gathering.

4. What do you want to make next? 5. Why do you want to make it?

I want to continue a previous work about the pignatta, to talk about colour, light, celebration, feast, rituals and treasure. A way to engage with the story we say so many times, there is something to gain by excavating value - fast reward. What do we do when we have enough stuff to survive winter? In this project I imagine to have two characters, a mother (taking care) and a kid (destroying world) playing video games. I imagine a work that is sad, serene, meaningful, boring and cathartic. I want to speak about our use of simulation engines and challenge the use we make out of them.

6. Relation to a larger context 7. References

The light rooms of Dan Flavin, the discs of Robert Irwin, the Skyspaces of James Turrell and the Ganzfeld, are inspiring me to explore interactions between light and architecture, if not digital architectures and natural landscapes (rendering engines vs the sun). Filmmaker and visual artist Pipilotti Rist says that one of the main subjects in her works is self-censorship. In the movie ‘Pepperminta’ the main character deploys the power of colour as an antidote to awake emotional intelligence, boost the immune system and overcoming one’s fear. I find her work a strong inspiration for the playfulness and irreverence of her approach. Composer and sculptor Charlemagne Palestine with his drone music and puppets, microtonal music. Phil Niblock with his sampling rudimental techniques. James Benning with his slow cinema. Samsara by Lois Patiño, engagement with local cultures, slow tempo that opens imagination, A\V meditations. Zone of interest by Jonathan Glazer for the use of sound and the relation between foreground and background. Lolo & Sosaku by Sergio Caballero, for the hacking of the western gender, the border crossing between fiction and documentation, the performativity of the actors.