John Cascone's Video 'Emily' Combines Art and Rugby to Fight Gender Discrimination

John Cascone's video 'Emily', set to the track 'Emily and The Band', features young Italian and Croatian athletes performing rugby moves like passes and tackles. The work is the culmination of the FRIDAS project (Freedom in Rights Identities Driven through Art and Sport), an Erasmus+ initiative led by Latitudo Art Project and curated by Benedetta Carpi De Resmini and Paola Farfaglio. FRIDAS involved two rugby teams—U.S. Primavera Rugby (Italy) and Ragbi Klub Nada (Croatia)—who worked with trainers and psychologists to address gender discrimination and social exclusion. The video honors Emily Valentine, the first female rugby player, and highlights female faces as a symbolic passing of the torch. The final event took place at the MAXXI in Rome on October 29, 2024, featuring a public debate on the dialogue between performance art and sport, exploring body, identity, and rights. The video was preceded by a short documentary on the project's phases.