Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo.
May 2016
The Workshop, half way between a relational art experiment and a video-photo urban intervention, was characterised by the direct involvement of the students in an experience in situ. It was designed to stimulate some kind of interdisciplinary discussion about the theory of perception, form and the language of contemporary art. The workshop, organised by the artist Robert Pettena, was based on the themes of the relationship between the perception and the enjoyment of place, based in the Palermo area. Certain points in the city are evocative of the past, both ancient and recent, causing forgotten stories and experiences to float up to the surface and act on the collective and individual psyche.
It was not a nostalgic homage, nor an archaeological investigation of abandoned architectural sites. It was more a becoming aware of place: immersing oneself in what is happening (reporting) rather than what happened (not reporting); but carrying out an analysis through the artist’s eye.
To bring the memory of a place to life is to bring the place to life: it takes on a different form.
