FRAGMENTS pt. II
[Paper Memories] - one of the two site-specific installations created in collaboration with Marinika Sadgyan.
Location: Numeroventi - Palazzo Galli Tassi / Florence, IT
Photography: Marina Denisova, courtesy of Numeroventi.
Paper Memories is a tactile installation that takes viewers back to the scenes of the devastating flood in Florence that started on November, the 4th, 1966. Located alongside the Arno and in the epicentre of the flood, the National Central Library suffered significant losses, among them, irreplaceable texts that are gone forever.
Photography: Marina Denisova, courtesy of Numeroventi.
The residency at Numeroventi in Florence gave me and Marinika Sadgyan a chance to get familiar with the still ongoing processes of book restoration at the Conservation.
Photography: Marina Denisova, courtesy of Numeroventi.
Based on our research with the Conservation and study of archival photographs, we reimagined the atmosphere of this catastrophe.
As a first tentative effort to save precious materials, the volunteers who came to Florence invented spontaneous structures to dry pages of the flooded books.
Photography: Marina Denisova, courtesy of Numeroventi.
Marinika and I recreated one of such structures in order to reconstruct the experience for ourselves. Combining the techniques of contemporary art and journalism, we therefore offer the visitors a glimpse into this fragment of the history of Florence and encourage an interest to the invaluable effort made to preserve the heritage.
Photography: Marina Denisova, courtesy of Numeroventi.
The two installations, though visually different, create a dialogue between each other and reflect on the power of nature to give and to take away.
