Al fuoco!

2001, video installation, 12’, Milano

The video projection on the ground shows a burning gas cooker that evokes a nocturnal campfire scene; the ideal place to gather together and tell each other stories. The hypnotic images created by the blue flames provide the warmth that draws us in to a position where we can listen. The sound is a thread of voices borrowed from the cinema, and woven together around the fire. The voices of actors and voice actors alternate in a single narrative about the meaning of life, death and war. Spreading out from the heart they recreate a conversational dimension around a “centre” which, by simultaneously focusing and distracting our attention, leads us elsewhere. The story is interrupted when the flame goes out and the sound of gas escaping from the fire turns a meeting place in a place of danger.