Gian Maria Tosatti and Alessandro Bulgini explore borders and displacement in 'Futuro-presente'

Christian Caliandro reflects on the work of artists Gian Maria Tosatti and Alessandro Bulgini, focusing on their video shot on the beach of Calais, France, in 2016. The video depicts migrants and refugees living in the Jungle camp, juxtaposed with scenes of homeless people in Rome's Tiburtina station. Caliandro draws a parallel to U2's performance of 'Where the Streets Have No Name' during the Zoo TV Tour in Sydney on November 27, 1993, where Bono interacts with his past self. The article also describes Tosatti's domestic display of found objects—foam pieces, a post-apocalyptic cigarette pack—presented on a shelf from his series 'Le Sette Stagioni' with a dead bird inside. This informal exhibition, viewed in June 2016 before Tosatti's departure for Calais and New York, is praised for its essential, powerful quality. The text includes a quote from Oliver Ressler's 'Emergency Turned Upside-Down' (2016) about borderlessness and migration. Caliandro is an art historian teaching at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze and a member of the scientific committee of Symbola Foundation.