PERFORMANCE PHOSPHORESCENT

Venice, Palazzo Grassi, International Festival 

"The Art of Performance", 1977

 

Architectural project realized in the form of a performance. In the presence of the public, almost total darkness was created in the inner courtyard of the palace and a phosphorescent figure descended the grand staircase of the main entrance, crossed the atrium, faced onto the Grand Canal, went down the steps and slowly disappeared into the water. During its passage, the figure that made its way through the crowd, carrying an Escher cube (made in such a way that it could be seen to be constructed in three dimensions), was the only source of light. The evocative setting, the music, the darkness and this moving light produced an effect of “working” of the space, somewhere between the real and the imaginary, in the same way as in the theater it is sometimes possible to enter into the imagination or produce imaginary elements by visualizing them physically in the context of someone acting in reality.