"Lives of not illustrious men"

Sonata for stories found

Cristina Petrelli
there is a goal
for the winter wind:
the sound of the sea
(Ikenishi Gonsui)


The incessant wind, which makes us restless, and the light of summer evenings. "Lives of not illustrious men" of Alessandra Baldoni (Perugia, 1976), which borrows its title from a book by Giuseppe Pontiggia, brings to mind the wind. At the sound and movement of the wind.
The artist uses old photos. He found rummaging in some market stalls. These images without context, quiet, which maintain the charm of things rare and delicate.
Looking at them it seems to have in front of the sheet music. The notes on the staff waiting for someone who can play them. Meanwhile, remain mute, just like the faces that appear in the photographs. And the melody a little late in coming.
In addition to photos, presented in different frames, appear the typed pages. The texts, that reflect the images, are located within frames of color white, all the same.




Alessandra Baldoni sent photographs, inviting friends to compose "biographies creative." We can show that these passages that bring to life the characters of the images without knowing the real identity. The only information in the possession of persons involved in the project is the trace of existence represented by the picture itself.
The authors of the texts have told their story, fueling the endless possibilities of creating fiction. Every literary work reveals the result of human intellect and also the biographical genre is a careful combination of art and lies; (Jeanette Winterson).
The faces are nameless photographs are nothing but projection screens for the imagination of the writer. Allow his words to run free. They talk about life and properly belong to the air. Are clouds swollen with rain. Notes played by an orchestra. Twenty carrying seeds. They are made of volatile substance. The stories are laid next to the photos without replacing them. Animate them, reconstructing the past of the people portrayed. But provide only one of the possible versions. We understand that the stories could be and many others.
Around the images form a set of worlds that exemplifies the essence of existence. Its changing nature, subject to constant change. In this way, if the words do play the notes of the photos, the stories give movement. So the room is saturated to the point that current may close suddenly flung open the door and the window. It would take very little time to rise from the ground and be transported by the wind.



I like people who can listen to the wind on your skin,
to smell of things,
capture its soul.
Those that have the meat in contact with the flesh of the world.
Because there is no truth, there is sweetness, there is no feeling, there is still love.
(Alda Merini)
The sound and movement are generated by a very simple gesture: the sending of photography. This is the first spark, but the conceptual operation enabled by the artist is more subtle.
Alessandra Baldoni is not limited to using old photographs, but decided to make some real false history. Care of the details to the end, choose the subject, the dress, the setting. Back to photo easel, commissioning pose of the model. Choose carefully the paper and works on aging support.
Want to rediscover the photographic instrument and even relate to the role that was assigned to photograph before the advent of digital technology. Use reflects the family album, now deceased, and the importance of photography. It traces the usage: from the ritual that marks the moments of passage (baptisms, weddings, birthdays) to take tangible substance of individual memory.
After completely immersed in this phase of discovery, the artist takes his new photographs from old-fashioned and sends them to friends. Send photos without distinction authentic, made in the twentieth century, and its fresh print. She does not care to reveal the mechanism. Ambiguity between true and false, which is also the viewer who reads the stories and see the photos shown. A deviation from the idea of R03;R03;truth, which once again confirms how Alessandra Baldoni want to rely on the creativity, the imagination and the imagination. It is no coincidence choose writing as a means optimal invention.
And this wind that continues to blow, carrying faces, words and emotions. Overwhelmed with the energy of existence and reveals the hidden poetry.



Information: Library of Science Technology - Architecture tel. 055.2756400 - 2756401 - Via Micheli 2 - Florence
e-mail: luca.desilva @ unifi.it / eventibibarc@unifi.it


Artist: Alessandra Baldoni
Title: Lives of eminent men
Duration: from 31 January to 20 February 2013
                  Monday to Friday from 9.00 to 18.30
Location: ARCHISPAZIO - Library of Science Technology - Architecture
Address: Palazzo San Clemente, Via Micheli, 2 - Florence