incrocio

‘Incroci’, or crossings are where significant communication occurs through inner/psychological or shared/physical narration. Incroci are the point at which a person either returns, or regresses, or proceeds into the new. They are also the location of the Faustian bargain, whereby a person trades something of personal moral or spiritual value for a worldly or material benefit, such as knowledge, power, or riches.

Stephen Partridge has devised this new work in order to draw attention to exchange between the rural and the urban and the experience of the migrant, negotiating new relationships at incroci throughout their journey into the future.

Working with James Gray, a high definition (4K) video installation will be produced in collaboration with the Commune di Venafro, Ufficio Assessore alla culture Dario Ottaviano and involve aerial (drone) footage of the incrocio at the historic intersection between Naples, Rome, the Adriatic coast and the Centro storico of Venafro/Venafrum.

This incrocio has in place one multi directional traffic light suspended by cables which, after years of use, was turned off by the Comune of Venafro in 2005 as an experiment to improve traffic flow. This resulted in significant improvements to traffic flow and now visible, constant negotiations of the drivers in fascinating, balletic choreography.

The drone footage, along with incidental shots at street level and other reference material will be accompanied by a soundscape which will emphasise the compositional and performative elements of the visual phenomena, enabling an ‘in and out of focus’ response to the fluid rhythm and changing accents; the irregular groupings and patterns observed will result in a complex, ever changing audio-visual work.

‘Incrocio’ is the second in a series of collaborations between Stephen Partridges exploring the intangible narratives of urban central Italy. Please see Quattro Minuti di Mezzogiorno by Stephen Partridge e Elaine Shemilt (2010)