Il nonnulla
[The Trifle]
performance, 2014





At the end of the First World War, my great-grandfather, an Italian soldier on the Karst front (now situated at the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy), discovered a German manuscript in an enemy trench.

After having it translated into Italian, he discovered it was the war diary of an officer serving in the Austrian army. The text chronicles the officer's progressive descent into madness, likely culminating in his death in battle on the Karst front.
When my great-grandfather died, the original German manuscript had already been lost, along with the first page of the translation, typed in Italian.

Il nonnulla is an attempt to create a new translation of a text that no longer exists.
In the performance, one person crafts a German translation of the Italian version of the manuscript, writing it by hand on sheets of paper.
A second person then receives these sheets and re-translates them aloud into Italian.


The performance was first presented as part of “Skillbuilding”, 34° performing art festival "Drodesera" at Centrale Fies (Dro, Italy), where it was awarded the Live Works - Performance Act Award (Vol. 2).

Performers: Hannes Egger, Andrea Miserocchi.



Fragment from the Italian translation of the German manuscript (around 1945)










Performance at "Live Works. Performance Act Award (Vol. 2)". Centrale Fies, June 2014





German written translation produced during the performance, June 2014





Excerpt, "Live Works. Performance Act Award (Vol. 2)", June 2014





Documentation drawing by Antonio Marras