Installation by LUCA SERASINI and Soundscape by MARCO RICCI DEL MASTRO

Studio Elisi, Leghorn - October 28, 2023

LUCA SERASINI is an artist accustomed to dealing with large themes and, possibly, with large spaces. His numerous Land art operations – aimed at a proposal for reflection on the meaning and role of the human being in the context of the universe – have been gradually implemented by the presence of interactive instruments, with the aim of offering the user a possibility of real involvement on a physical and spiritual level.

Asking "if we still need the stars", a question that is the basis of his Progetto Costellazioni, indicates, among other things, the need for the author – and for all of us – to question the relationship that contemporary man is able to maintain with the universe also through the means and tools that technology, which he himself created and developed, puts at his disposal.

Serasini's propensity to welcome the active presence of other artists into his multimedia projects should be underlined, including those who work in the field of sounds, who collect and process sounds and noises typical of nature or human activity.

MARCO RICCI DEL MASTRO, author of the soundscape that gives character and atmosphere to the exhibition space, offers to the visual enjoyment of his "scores" containing pieces of musical notation of a particular slant; The sheets on display, however, are not to be considered musical scores but personal notes to keep track of the work while it was being created. It was a matter of combining sound paintings in which the artist wanted to build "appearances", semblances of environmental sounds, musical hints, segments of sounds that do not reach a solution, exactly like a world tour (hence the term 360°) that electromagnetic waves make by bringing with them voices, picking up signals, collecting the momentary impressions of humanity in a global communication that is always inconclusive. Ricci del Mastro himself points out in his paper Listening to the atmosphere: a new approach to electronic music how electronic music brings to completion a complete deconstruction of the musical system understood classically, for this reason it has never been able to be codified: there is a call to pure aesthetic perception, to atmosphere and emotional tonality, as the current of the new phenomenology (Schmitz, Griffero, Bohme) argues. Paradoxically, there is no longer any technical value in listening: one listens only to the impression, the sensation, the atmosphere that it evokes.

The operation presented at Studio Elisi – A day as a Marconista – is part of the project The Marconisti (Art, Science, Society), conceived and shared by the two artists. Regarding the concept behind this project, here is what they said:

“Through the interdisciplinary language of contemporary art, with installations, live performances, photographs, videos and sounds, The Marconisti project is inspired by Marconi's scientific work to bring out the poetics of contemporary and technological society and its relationship with the Universe. The project aims to highlight the spirit of research that guided the discoveries of Marconi and other scientists and artists to come, creating immersive experiences that engage visitors on the theme of radio and telecommunications and developing themes related to Morse code both in a musical and installation key. The Marconisti is also structured as a path of interdisciplinary collaboration between the same artists, scientists and other specialists. The works of The Marconisti project are conceived in relation to exhibition spaces of landscape and cultural value, with the aim of evoking the figure of Marconi but also, through the symbolism of the staircase and stone, a spiritual vision linked to Jacob's dream.”

To be underlined, in the above writing, the invitation to consider the (twofold?) value of the project, with the reference to the stone-ladder symbolism alluding both to the human scientific and artistic vocation as it is implemented on Earth (Marconi - Serasini & Ricci del Mastro), and to the essential extension of the investigation in the direction of the "sky" (Jacob's dream).

Text by Sandro Buttari/Studio Elisi