REST | MICHELE RIZZO

In REST, Michele Rizzo displays the different practices that characterise his research: dance, sculpture and installation. He was born in Lecce, in Southern Italy, and his origins play a key role in the structure of the work, with the tradition of religious ceremonies mixed with the contemporary profane experience of clubbing. The sculptures of four ravers are placed on steel sedans similar to those used during religious processions, in a choreographic mix of lights and sounds that animates and amplifies the work.

Included in REST is also the performance directed by the artist, which involves a group of dancers, this time in flesh and blood: the interaction between the human bodies, and between these and the sculptures, through fluid and uninterrupted gestures, not only transforms dance into a device through which to communicate and interact, but elevates simple physical contact to a moment of discovery and self-awareness.

The performance, which represents motion as opposed to the stasis conveyed by the sculptures, also alludes to the contingencies of the present, to the resumption of daily rhythms following the lockdown period. If the installation coincides with a moment of introspective reflection, the performance invites us to confront the otherness starting from the importance we have understood of self-determination and the formation of being in relation to the community.

cover image: ©Quadriennale d’arte 2020 FUORI, performance by artist Michele Rizzo
Courtesy Fondazione La Quadriennale di Roma. Ph Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini

09/07/2021