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




An ongoing research project investigating the appearance of absence within a given linguistic system.
Through the study of cultural forms such as jokes, riddles, cartoons, and rebuses, the project explores the techniques language employs to refer to itself.

Ep. 1

A series of illustrations extracted from an Italian Disney children's magazine.
Each illustration features the indication of an absence as a specific linguistic sign.

Ep. 2

Language incorporates techniques to isolate the space of an utterance 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 the utterance preceding it.

Five Italian jokes are stripped of their punch lines. By removing this 'flick of the tail,' the primary purpose of the utterance is revoked. However, this aimlessness opens up a space for meaning, allowing a potential narrative to emerge.

Ep. 3

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

Ep. 4
in collaboration with Giulia Marzin

A collection of rebuses extracted from the Italian magazine La settimana enigmistica. Each rebus has been stripped of the letters required to construct a sentence — the 'solution' of the game.

By removing the possibility of solving the rebus, the purpose of the picture disappears, leaving the mark of its absence in the awkward arrangement of the figures within the frame. This absence may, in turn, open up a space for potential narratives to emerge.



Installation view, Peephole, Milano, 2013