FATA MORGANA

In a house where I lived when I was young, there was wall paper in my bedroom. At night, when it ws time to turn off the lights and I was not sleepy, I would rub the wall with my finger and the design would disappear. That’s where my dreams flowed. Foul, at times.

The project was to create a total alteration of a space with a dreamlike video installation investigating remote throbbing obsessions. The setting of an obsolete shabby hotel was created in a old print shop: windows, doors, carpeting, wallpaper, furniture, curtains, etc.. The rooms are loaded with memories and dreams and some pending events come back to life. The space is at street level of the ex-Cerere pasta factory located on via Tiburtina in the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome. Outside the door, there is a “HOTEL” sign.

Entering the space, we go up 4 steps into the simulated reception area. Everything is yellow: wallpaper, carpeting, desk, furniture, ornaments, lamps, pictures, phone, key holder, etc. There are three doors: one has “privato” written on it, one on the left has number 17 and the other on the right, number 19.

Entering room 19, we see a bed, a bedside table with a teddy-bear lamp, yellow curtains in the window, some pictures, a small bookshelf, yellow carpeting and wallpaper. Behind the door hangs a small “Pokemon” backpack. Some yellow lingerie is inside the bedside table drawer. On the wall next to the pillow, the wallpaper is worn. And there is a video-loop: A castle in the night. Time passes and comes the day. The castle door opens and a princess, dressed like Fiona, Shrek’s wife, appears. She is happy and dances in the meadow. A small frog comes down from heaven. The princess tries to eat it, then spits it out. She dances. A one-eyed frog appears. The princess crushes it. The frog disappears in a cloud of white smoke. A third frog appears, wearing a lace collar. The princess hurls in on the castle wall. It disappears in a cloud of smoke and a small prince appears. Too small. The princess throws it away and goes on dancing. A beautiful frog drops in. The princess kisses it and in a big cloud of smoke, a handsome prince appears. They enter the castle together. The sun goes down, comes the night, and daylight again. The castle door opens. The fairytale starts anew.

Entering room 19, we see a bed, a bedside table, a small bookcase with objects, a radio playing and a lamp. On the left of the bed, there is a window with yellow curtains and an idyllic Swiss landscape, yellow wallpaper and carpeting. On a hook behind the door, a yellow tie. In the drawer of the bedside table, other yellow tries. To the left, there is a massive chandelier with a yellow ghost hanging. A strong scent of vanilla is in the air. Every now and then, the ghost drops spongy ectoplasms.

But you had to be there.

Pastificio Cerere, Rome, 2008