16mm, 4'18'', color, sound, 2017
3rd Prize Macht Kunst! Deutsche Bank Video Art Award
With a practice that is grounded in film and performance, Sara Tirelli has created an artwork
that is a dystopian vision of the city of Venice. Shot in 16 mm, the video uses the aesthetics of “found footage” to blur the perception of time, evoking the idea of Venice as a city of future past, in which the present contains both traces of the past and visions for the future.
The main character, Cassandra, appears as survivor, witness and prophet, moving on a fragile boat on a
wasted lagoon, blaming the disaster that has finally destroyed the city. Her words - taken from the poem A Soliloquy for Cassandra by Wislawa Szymborska, are juxtaposed and remixed with scientific data illustrating how the transit of cruise ships and the increasing pollution in the area have impacted the lagoon and poisoned the citizens to a point of no-return.
This ultimately leaves space for hope that measures can still be taken to avoid the catastrophe, turning Cassandra’s lament into an urgent, desperate cry for action.
cinematographer Lorenzo Pezzano
with Nastasia Carraro
make-up artist Chiara Tubia
voice-over Daniela Calò, Cosimo Bizzarri
scientific data by TE Transport & Environment NABU
produced by W.Bottin, E. Spalazzi, S.Tirelli
Special thanks to Veronica Aneris, Cosimo Bizzarri, Daniela Calò, Milk Studios, Giovanni Pellegrini, Diana Marrone e Anna Lott