Anna Valeria Borsari's Facebook Persona 'Anna Battistini' Becomes a Book

Italian artist Anna Valeria Borsari (born 1943 in Bazzano) conducted a year-long performance on Facebook under the pseudonym 'Anna Battistini', exploring identity fragmentation in the digital age. She adopted the personas of aviator Amelia Earhart and playwright Antonin Artaud, posting images and texts that intertwined their lives. On December 31, 2018, she revealed her true identity and declared the project complete. The experience is documented in the book 'Anna Battistini è su Facebook' (Postmedia Books, Milan, 2019, 64 pages, €12). Borsari's work, dating back to the 1970s, has consistently questioned authorship and site-specificity, with pieces like 'Attraversarsi' (1977) and 'Altrove' (1980) predating the term 'site-specific'. She sees Facebook as an immaterial site where her intervention allowed others to take over, leaving the work open-ended. The book analyzes how social media and consumer culture have transformed the concept of the individual, moving from Renaissance self-observation to a narcissistic search for reflection in others' eyes. Borsari contrasts this with earlier avant-garde attempts to transcend the subject, noting a regression. The interview was conducted by Federica Boragina.