According to his biography, Italy-based artist Daniel Dallabrida blends art and storytelling to identify and build community. “For him,” his biography states, “artists possess the skill and bear the responsibility to round out each moment of life: uncovering subtlety in the face of awe, permanence in the face of erasure, ambiguity in the face of clarity, wonder in the face of horror.”
The above video comes from the artist’s 2011 performance, sound and installation piece Damage is Done / Danno è fatto. According to the artist:
“The installation’s creation is a community-based ritual. A pan-generational team of local artists work together to bind thousands of sticks into bundles, or faggots. The faggots are heated over a kiln, then dipped into a solution of porcelain, pigment, cinnamon and terra-cotta. Once dried, the ceramic skin is shattered, and the faggots are dipped again. After repeating this process multiple times, the faggots are wall-mounted in a pattern influenced by the results of the Western blot RNA assay—the confirmatory HIV test.”
This culminates in a performance during which the artist removes the faggots from the wall and smashes them against the ground, causing a spray of rainbow-colored dust. The performance is highlighted through the use of microphones on Dallabrida’s mouth and chest, so that one can hear the artist’s breathing and heartbeat. After the ceramic portions are destroyed, other artists help to clean up the wreckage.
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