Empty Totem

Love is our religion and Emptiness our belief

form is void void is color

Edited by Gayarama and Joel Valabrega
Performed by Aiko Cech,
Dolma Maria Angelina Mantovan,
Uma Carmen Giurleo Oppedisano
Photography 35 mm: Gayarama
Typesetting: Giulia Pastore

form is void void is color

form is void void is color is an artist's book - edition of 33 copies - that juxtaposes photographic images with a narrative about transformation, form and landscape. The labyrinthine structure of the book - defined by elaborate paper engineering - reflects the imaginary content where the observer metaphysically follows a phantasmagorical journey. The 3 heroines - Uma, Dolma and Aiko - move across narrative spaces through constant coloured metamorphosis. The elements (water, fire, air, earth and space) acquire new identities thanks to the characters’ change of perspective. The story is marked by twists and stasis, sudden actions and reflections on landscape. In terms of typesetting, the stylistic mark emphasizes the relationship between form and void through black blocks of bilingual text which are defined within the white of pages. Simultaneously, the artists have re-elaborated the images as an installation of a gigantic book printed and embroidered on textile. 

We have always considered La Piana, an elevated pedestrian square in South Milan, as a blank canvas on which projecting thoughts and desires. Since 2014 the negotiation between inhabitants and artists have settled the rules of a sort of game on this beloved place. The game has been shaped the space and designed the table-square, layer by layer, people after people. In 2020 in collaboration with Nina Bassoli X-Contemporary Art, Atir, Alveare, L’Impronta, Le Pianiste we realized project of redevelopment of the square. Using the tools provided by Piazze Aperte Milano we drawn up a liquid square, an imaginary playground. The colors of road and parking signs (yellow and blue) fade into a new geographical landscape in which we travel, play and dance despite the rules.