Timeline | One man cemetery
Lido Venice, Italy
Lido Venice, Italy
2007
What happens whenthe identity of a notion, which by definition has a collective purpose, is transformedinto a new objective with a singular purpose in order to create a new concept? Iam referring to one of those places that exist because they represent the ideaof community, such as squares or cemeteries, which are built to serve for morethan one person. Combined with this idea, this installation started to also takeshape after a reflection on the precarious nature of things in a determinedtime line, as those insects with a short life span that are born in the morningand die in the evening.
And so came alongthe idea of a cemetery for only one person who lives multiple lives, each onlyone year long. Timeline represents an absurd game of time and reality in whichthe artist passes through his own lives that last just one year (twelve months startingfrom his birthday). Instead of having just one life composed of years, he hasmultiple lives of one year long.
Timeline isstructured like a funerary monument, with photographs printed on round ceramicplates, just like on real tombstones, with little plaques giving the date ofbirth and death. The work refers to me at the age of 26, the date when theinstallation was created. So it is composed of 26 empty wooden boxes, raised1.71m above the ground (my height). The boxes are 25cm high (like my head). On theleft side of the first box, the ceramic plate is printed with my self-portrait havingmy eyes open and a small metal plaque with my date of birth. On the other side ofthe box, there is the same self-portrait on the ceramic plate, but having myeyes closed, and underneath of it, the date of death. That is: 1 April 1982 -31 March 1983 (exactly one year). Then the next life continues on the next box:with the date of birth and the date of death of the following year... and so onup till 2007, where there is only the date of birth but nothing is marked yetfor the date of death.
The boxes areopen on two sides, so that the visitor can look through the aligned boxes contemplatingthe person’s life, from the beginning or from the end of the monument.
And so came alongthe idea of a cemetery for only one person who lives multiple lives, each onlyone year long. Timeline represents an absurd game of time and reality in whichthe artist passes through his own lives that last just one year (twelve months startingfrom his birthday). Instead of having just one life composed of years, he hasmultiple lives of one year long.
Timeline isstructured like a funerary monument, with photographs printed on round ceramicplates, just like on real tombstones, with little plaques giving the date ofbirth and death. The work refers to me at the age of 26, the date when theinstallation was created. So it is composed of 26 empty wooden boxes, raised1.71m above the ground (my height). The boxes are 25cm high (like my head). On theleft side of the first box, the ceramic plate is printed with my self-portrait havingmy eyes open and a small metal plaque with my date of birth. On the other side ofthe box, there is the same self-portrait on the ceramic plate, but having myeyes closed, and underneath of it, the date of death. That is: 1 April 1982 -31 March 1983 (exactly one year). Then the next life continues on the next box:with the date of birth and the date of death of the following year... and so onup till 2007, where there is only the date of birth but nothing is marked yetfor the date of death.
The boxes areopen on two sides, so that the visitor can look through the aligned boxes contemplatingthe person’s life, from the beginning or from the end of the monument.
Title
TIMELINE one man cemetery
Technique
steel, tego,photographs on ceramic plate, plastic,
cm x 1250 x 180 x40
Year
2007
TIMELINE one man cemetery
Technique
steel, tego,photographs on ceramic plate, plastic,
cm x 1250 x 180 x40
Year
2007
