Quello che non c'è
[What is not there]
ongoing research project

Quello che non c’è (“What is not there”) is an ongoing research on the appearance of absence within a given linguistic system.
Through the study of cultural forms such as jokes, riddles, cartoons, and rebuses, the project attempts to investigate the techniques language employs to refer to itself.

Ep. 1

A series of illustrations are extrapolated from an Italian Disney magazine for children.
Each illustration comprises the indication of an absence as a specific linguistic sign.

Ep. 2

Language incorporates techniques to isolate the space of an enunciation and turn it into a performance aimed at producing a specific effect. In jokes, the so-called ‘punch line’ functions as a ‘flick of the tail’ of language, as it flashes and illuminates the entire space of enunciation preceding it.

Five Italian jokes are deprived of their punch lines. By removing such a 'flick of the tail,' the primary aim of enunciation is revoked. But such aimlessness opens up a space for sense, for a potential narrative to emerge.

Ep. 3

A woman reads a series of compositions resembling love poems.
They are Italian riddles, enigmas, or charades. While love is their apparent subject, they hide a second meaning, whose exposure is the object of the game.
The presence of such a 'solution' becomes perceivable only when we uncover the space of enunciation.

Ep. 4
in collaboration with Giulia Marzin

A collection of rebuses, extrapolated from the Italian magazine La settimana enigmistica. Each of the rebuses has been deprived of the letters that allow the player to construct a sentence – the 'solution' of the game.

By removing the possibility to solve the rebus, the aim of the picture disappears, leaving the mark of its absence on the awkward disposition of the figures within the frame. Such absence may, then, open up a space for potential narratives to emerge.



Installation view, Peephole, Milano, 2013