Daniele Spanò's 27-Monitor Video Installation 'Line in the Sand'

Daniele Spanò created 'Line in the Sand', a 27-channel video installation for the Made in NY Media Centre in New York, commissioned by Cyfest Saint Petersburg. The work explores the relationship between body and space in the digital realm, using 27 monitors arranged in a 7-meter line. Performers impact a bulletproof glass surface, with original sounds recorded on set and refined by sound-artist Gup Alcaro. Spanò's practice moves from projection to monitor, treating the screen as a trap separating real from imaginary. The installation, shown in 2019, forces viewers to navigate multiple perspectives due to the shallow gallery depth. Spanò cites influences from Gary Hill, Studio Azzurro, and teachers Rodolfo Fiorenza, Sandro Sanna, Francesco Calcagnini. He criticizes the art world's failure to embrace digital languages during the pandemic, reducing virtuality to a simulacrum of insecurities. The project 'HUMANS. Video-ritratti della società contemporanea', curated by Giovanni Viceconte, presents video art and performance in thematic chapters (e.g., Malessere, Lockdown) reflecting on contemporary malaise and isolation from COVID-19.