2 ・III・ 2020


Awareness. Shooting. Consciousness.

'Confini' is an instaproject born from a 'wrong' shot, from a quick story on instagram to tell a day of my artistic residency; from a shot without focus from the studio window before leaving the ViaFarini Archive at Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan. Without focusing.

On March 2, 2020 at 6.40 pm the confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Italy were 2.036. Containment measures had already been taken, red zones had been established in some parts of Italy, while Milan was in the yellow zone like the rest of Lombardy. Two days later schools across Italy would be closed.

The glass marked the subtle line between inside and outside, an invisible and reflective diaphragm.
And in fact it reflected, and allowed to reflect. In this case, it reflected the archive, the knowledge contained in the books and magazines. In their own way, frontiers that widen other frontiers.

Borders.
I was thinking about the recommendations about interpersonal distances and how this would change our relationships with others: with loved ones, with family and friends, with fellow residents, and also with people on the street, with strangers.
I was thinking of the privilege of spending this suspended period in a studio like this: a nice place to work, if we really had to be put to 'confinement'.
I thought of the idea of being limited, of seeing our personal freedom reduced. But also of the idea that our freedom is always limited, by physical limits, by natural and human rules, by our mental boundaries.

There are times when we can't focus. Or in which we understand only after we did it instinctively.

I thought of a format to be proposed primarily to the inhabitants of the residence and those who frequent the Archive, to friends of ViaFarini, and by extension to the world of art and beyond, to those who live in this situation of confinement like us and want to participate to the project. 

I think of vertical photos and videos, made with the smartphone, telling of this suspended time. I think of instagram stories to be published on social media and to be enclosed in an insta-project, to narrate this story, to leave a trace, but also to involve people, to connect them. I think of the use of digital tools as a link. I think of the community that can be temporarily gathered around this project, of the reflections that can arise from it. Visual layering. Virtual neighborhoods.

confinis: (lat., adj.) neighboring, the one who owns a neighboring property​

who: ​

a project by Vera Pravda 
with the collaboration of ViaFarini DOCVA


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when: 

phase 1: from March 9th to May 3rd, 2020
phase 2: from May 4th to the end of the lockdown


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what:

@ConfiniArtProject is an instaproject.
​Vera Pravda and ViaFarini DOCVA invite the inhabitants currently subject to limitations due to the measures against the spread of coronavirus to send and share visual reflections taken during the quarantine.
The photos and the videos deemed in line with the project and the related texts will be published on the instagram page of the project, tagging the author, and shared in the instagram stories of the project.
For phase 2, currently underway, participants are invited to donate photos or videos with books about borders.

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how:

Joining is simple:

• donate photos and videos of books about borders to the project and write us the references (author, title, publishing house). If you want you can also add a short text with notes and reflections
• the selected contributions are published on the Instagram page and stories of ConfiniArtProject, tagging the authors of the images
• share the post in your Instagram story and name your friends, inviting them to participate in the challenge, using the #confiniartproject and #confinibookchallenge tags
• you can be use your smartphone for shooting. The images of the books can be set (photos with other objects, self-portraits with books, images of screens for audiobooks, etc.), always in compliance with the instagram and project guidelines. Please do not insert writings, tags or stickers on the images.
• the required format for photos and videos is color, vertical, for videos up to 15 seconds, with or without audio
• the video and the text can be sent through the box below.
• the contents of the project will generate materials that will be exhibited and told on the occasions that may arise. During phase 1 / CONFINI / collected more than 200 videos from Italy and the all-over the world, all related to the theme of boundaries, treated in various meanings, from physical to mental, from cultural to territorial ones. The project, open to all, saw numerous artists among the participants. The videos of phase 1 will come together in a long participatory video, a choral fresco of these unexpected times and a copy of this will be donated to the Viafarini DOCVA Archive. In phase 2, the contributions sent by the participants will be added images of texts from the Viafarini Archive: a way to implement the exchange and make this heritage known. 
• stills from videos could be used in the future in a possible publication

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where:

• instagram: @confiniartproject
• highlights, interviews, talks and texts on Gli Stati Generali (ita)

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why:

• ​to leave a trace, to create a collective narrative
• to create temporary virtual communities
• to face this suspended time together in a resilient and active way
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