“INTERVALLO”
Photo and video project concerning the areas implicated in the earthquake of L’Aquila andAmatrice
byFabio Bix
There used to be, from time to time, in the RAI television’s shows’ schedules an empty scene, due to technical issues, it was called “l’Intervallo”. It was on view each time there was a transmission problem or interruption during the live shows on the TV channels.
That empty space was filled in with a series of images - initially in black and white and since the ‘6o, in full colors - of landscapes or Italian historical monuments. Each scene was subtitled with the names of locations as well as the detail portrayed, and from time to time it appeared the word “INTERVALLO” in capital characters right above those images.
The soundtrack was a classic music composition for string orchestra and solo harp.
INTERVALLO – the project
The idea of “emptiness in the palinsesto (TV scheduling) of Life” it’s the concept of intermission between a “before” the earthquake - which has a specific date and time - and an “after”, much more vague, where it’s feasible the hypothesis of rebuilding those places fallen down, but as we can imagine it doesn’t fix others much more radical and deeply rooted repercussions.
This is what pushed me to follow my research on site, to understand and feel what l’Aquila - the city damaged during December 2008 until 2012 - and Amatrice-Norcia-Visso (earthquakes in 2016/17) had to say.
P.S. - the area interested in the tragic event involve circa 200 towns.
The video INTERVALLO has many layers of interpretation. The predominant one is the dramatic dimension, induced by the images of disruption and highlighted also by the excruciating soundtrack. However to raise empathy trough drama is not what I am interested in; it’s not enough. What matters to me is actually to represent the metaphysical desolation, the complexity of a situation which has gigantic repercussions, not surmountable with easy solutions or partial truths. These under-layers are evoked by means of the monumental statues, created on site with paper napkins, tall 15cm circa which last and live [1] just the time of the shooting.
In those images, the fragile sculptures seems almost survivals of the earthquake, in opposition to the collapsed walls of the buildings. At last there are the words overlaying the video, which compose evocative messages, sometimes in harmony with the drama and some other times disturbing, almost becoming irreverent; some sort of bothering elements in contrast to an easy cohesion and empathy from the viewer which, when the video ends, is not there and doesn’t have to deal with the reality of whom experienced that catastrophe, either suffering it or managing its results.
