_OVERLAPPING DISCRETE BOUDARIES
Put thirty spokes together to one hub,
The original empty space makes the use of wheel.
Knead clay into vessels,
The original empty space makes the use of vessel.
Shape door and windows for a house/room,
The original empty space makes the use of house/room.
So the things that are made are only conditions,
What [we] are using is still the original empty space.
Laozi - Chapter 11
This is the era of the city, of hyper-production of images and of new media it emerges a need for a rethinking on the concept of time, a reflection on the idea of memory that appears as the complex place within which to build emotions and verify connections and assumptions about the different relationship strategies. All these factors converge to one dimension, like a progressive archive, which increasingly shifts its physical size to a fragmented flow: several places, as many times and many places in our lives have become a multi-dimensional compound of physical places, still more and more geared to virtual spaces in continuous re-definition. Therefore a geography for the human body strives for a new map, a map that needs to be as conscious and receptive as these constant changes that fuel our lives. From rural surroundings and European landscapes to Asian megacities reality explored by those who decide to investigate these issues is redrawn suggesting new borders and boundaries, new ways of relating to space. This is the way emotional geography works : it maps all the different places we experience, involving our own sensitivity but it acts through the concluded time of a detailed research. This is the meaning emerging from Alessandro Carboni research, an artist who has become a keen observer and interpreter of geo-cultural politics.
Initiated by Alessandro Carboni, Overlapping Discrete Boundaries comes after “What Burns Never Returns” project which has investigates not only on anthropological, socio-cultural transformations but also on the way technology, infrastructure and individuals are organized in urban contexts. Emotional Geography. In Overlapping Discrete Boundaries, the investigation is focused both on an objective analysis of the urban context, which will be carried on by explorative geo locative mapping technologies and on the other hand focused on the intimate, subjective relationship between the observer and the perceived environment. It is resulting in the observer’s mind is in fact a sum of objective and subjective undergoing constant mutations.
The all projects aesthetic is strongly bounded to its own tools which will take into account both the objective dimensions of the perceived environment and the inner subjectivity of the actors’ view.The main subject of this investigation is the process of perception, from this point of view the project is focused on the self, on his perception of space and urban flux.
A grid in continuous mutation is the result: human beings are not only vectors but also the entities able to modify the environment and to generate new fluxes. This context given men through the environment comprehension plays a major role as he is the only one able to act on the ongoing spatial transformations in. Perception is the place where in fact mapping can be finally encoded. Urban space for example is not objectively represented, like in geographical maps,it is represent instead by a redefinition and translation from real to psychic and metaphorical places
All the incredible developments in several fields like molecular biology, genetic biochemistry, cognitive sciences and neurology, have broaden up and amplified our knowledge on learning processes and perception, on the possibilities and on the concept of body itself.
Taking this research frame into account we understand the choreographic process as a learning process: an interpretative model for decoding reality.
Learning takes places through incessant connexions between bran and body, by empathy, synergies between cognitive abilities and physical translations; At these stage it is clear that choreography becomes a means to investigate, encode and analyse cognitive, perceptive and learning processes; the dancer’s body becomes the territory to project and to translate from real to metaphorical and psychic environments.
Overlapping Discrete Boundaries project, follows research paths which cannot be coded as they involve several disciplines and draw from both theoretical and practical studies. The choreographer insists on collaborating with artists, performers, researchers, planners, architects and sociologists, creating work platforms which are becoming more and more essential elements of the path planning. He takes on the role of mediator between various linguistic registers, from a field survey to another, between complementary figures and strategic roles. His shows and performances are rooted in the wealth of experience and knowledge he’s accumulating during the years.
Overlapping discrete boundaries strives to develop and promote a multidisciplinary production in line with the above experiential rules
This possibility is offered by the presence, within the project, of figures pertaining to areas such as visual art, performance art, architecture, urban geography, cognitive science and new technologies..
These actors above mentioned will be involved in different proceeding stages which Alessandro Carboni will develop in specific urban contingencies. To complete and implement the project research possibilities the artist has designed a laboratory called B_Lab in persistent motion among various cities capable of drawing from different cultural productions and will be collaborating with local partners such as universities, research centres, galleries, etc. As we must stress out some cultural experiences of single territorial realities have rarely been compared to perhaps similar other areas of research. This project aims in the first place to explore the emotional geography in single territories, but also aims to highlight the need to map the relational reality of the research world in different continents. The result of the undertaken surveys in the urban space leads to the creation of objects / arrays that adhere to the geographical locations identified: choreography, installations and artistic production will become imaginary maps
Exhibitions, performances, installations and workshops will be the results of a research highlighting links and paths underlined by a number of keywords; Territories and relationships: The journey is one of the key elements of Discrete Overlapping boundaries. The main aim is to explore some outstanding cities on five continents. Each of them will be analysed during short period when a residence of the artists will take place in art centres, theatres and universities.
During this time of patrolling/action on the one hand we will collect the energies and tensions of the city through practical exploration of the urban context, on the other we will use the collected materials (video, audio, body, technology and geo-locative: GPS, sensors) to build up a site-specific event. Installations, performances, videos, concerts and workshops, will be hosted in public spaces (galleries, museums, theatre, art centre)
In addition to the permanent team, Alessandro Carboni will also benefit from the collaboration of Resident guests, valuable resources for understanding the deep significance of the territories in which, he will operate. The collected materials for each city-exploration can generate an exhibition / display accompanied by new installations, performances, publications and collaborations through thematic conferences linked to the places explored.
Alessandro Carboni will work alongside a new choreographic creation inspired by the research materials produced. The methodology is that of creative residency. Alessandro Carboni will be joined by a technician, two visual and interface designers who will develop visual, software, motion tracking devices, sensors in line with the thinking and structure and choreographic design.
