CLIENT
Studio Project
SERVICE
Self-directed work developed and produced by Foghorn.
Una Boccata d'Arte performance, video installation, sound, 30 minute loop
Created and Performed by Gabriella Rhodeen Written and Directed by Jesse Bonnell
Flag Semaphores is a large public art work which forms an ecosystem of interconnected mediums, mixing performance, film, sculpture, and works on paper. Each element plays off the other, creating a choreography of images, language, and sound. Conceived to be an evening length oratorio that mimics a planetarium-like guided tour, this ever expanding performance project contains multiple chapters based in memoir.
The first chapter of Flag Semaphores was inspired by the literary work, Christ Stopped at Eboli, a memoir written by Carlo Levi in 1945. In the book, Levi recounts the experience of his own exile in Basilicata, the region of Southern Italy.
A political activist and vocal anti-fascist, Levi was arrested in Northern Italy and exiled to the far southern-region for one year. Examining and reframing the text, we found profound resonance between the author’s own time and the extraordinary moment in which we find ourselves.
Curation and Project Support by Annabel Rhodeen and Aloisia Leopardi
Amulet against fever is the recognizable Abracadabra phrase written in triangular form, which when recited by a speaker from top to bottom or in the opposite direction, has the power to ward off diseases. Tracing the etymology to Hebrew, the phrase means “I create as I speak.” Triangular and hand written, these appeared on the doorways of most Londoners during The Great Plague of London.
In the book, Christ Stopped at Eboli, the writer Carlo Levi describes seeing many locals throughout Basilicata in the late 1930s with this amulet hung around their necks. Fitting for our current world in need for this ancient magic and hope. We are creating multiple quilted works using sailcloth as the primary material. Here we installed a 25 foot Jib Sail with the triangular form of the magic phrase on the side of a church in the Italian mountain village, Pietragalla.
Amulet Against Fever
Sail Cloth, 25 x 15 x 23, 2021
A taurus shaped donut, in which viewers can enter and walk around at their leisure. Wrapped in sailcloth, the documentary style projections cascade over the surface. Internal lighting and sound design create a light-box globe like cinema, which references zoetropes creating a stroboscope dream machine. The sculptural rotunda is designed in collaboration with London-based architect Brian Spring (AIA, RIBA) and Jesse Bonnell.