ELENA MAZZI, SARA TIRELLI
A fragmented world examines the physical, chemical and geological interconnections between the many players that are part of a complex and detailed system of relationships. In long sequence shot, the video shows a runner on the slopes of Etna, rendered in severe black and white. The man moves rapidly in a rugged, lunar-like landscape, among open faults, enormous masses, lava seas, depressions and sudden drops. He has no apparent destination and his body seems the only sign of life amid the seeming immobility of the gaunt, bare and inhospitable volcanic surroundings. The work is inspired by the Theory of Fracture, studied by the physicist Bruno Giorgini from the 1960s, in which the scholar analyses the behaviour and reaction of variables in the presence of breakages. The fracture is followed by an unpredictable, chaotic situation, with variables that go crazy in the face of a combination of complex interactions never previously experienced. It is a condition found in natural, geological and physical phenomena, but it also appears in economy and finance. Elena Mazzi’s and Sara Tirelli’s work also alludes to what happens when it is human equilibria that fracture, that is to say, when individual, social and political variables are considered. From this perspective, the runner seems to move on the edge of an abyss, leaving the observer in constant apprehension. The risks he is facing are exactly the same as those we ourselves are incurring unawares.
