Luigi De Angelis' The Garden Blends Video Installation with Live Performance
Luigi De Angelis showcases The Garden, a video installation featuring multiple screens that includes singer Claron McFadden and live-looping electronics from Emanuele Wiltsch Barberio. This work merges contemporary ritual with baroque still life, utilizing seven vertical screens that portray faces on the verge of tears in slow motion. McFadden delivers lamentations from composers such as Johann Christian Bach, Claudio Monteverdi, John Dowland, and Nina Simone. The imagery shifts between portraits and landscapes, illustrating Christ-like figures influenced by political violence alongside evangelical figures set in a Garden of Gethsemane. The piece probes our empathy for the suffering of others. Valentina Valentini situates The Garden within the 20th century's evolving portrayal of pain, contrasting it with Bill Viola's Observance (2002). It was featured at the Romaeuropa Festival.
Key facts
- Luigi De Angelis created The Garden, a multi-screen video installation with live performance.
- Claron McFadden performs live vocals; Emanuele Wiltsch Barberio handles live-looping electronics.
- The work blends baroque still life and contemporary ritual.
- Seven vertical screens show slow-motion faces of people about to cry.
- Repertoire includes works by Johann Christian Bach, Claudio Monteverdi, John Dowland, Nina Simone.
- Screens depict Christ-like figures inspired by Abu Ghraib torture and Afghanistan killings.
- Marco Cavalcoli plays Pilate in the installation.
- The landscape evokes the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem.
- The work was presented at the Romaeuropa Festival.
- Valentina Valentini authored the article; she teaches at Sapienza University of Rome.
Entities
Artists
- Luigi De Angelis
- Claron McFadden
- Emanuele Wiltsch Barberio
- Johann Christian Bach
- Claudio Monteverdi
- John Dowland
- Nina Simone
- Marco Cavalcoli
- Bill Viola
- Samuel Beckett
- Sarah Kane
- Andres Serrano
- Susan Sontag
- Corrado Bologna
- Salvatore Natoli
- Valentina Valentini
Institutions
- Sapienza Università di Roma
- Romaeuropa Festival
- Artribune
Locations
- Abu Ghraib
- Afghanistan
- Jerusalem
- Garden of Gethsemane
- Mount of Olives