Wrong Ninna Nanna: Bifo Berardi's apocalyptic art-music project

Franco 'Bifo' Berardi, an Italian counterculture thinker and activist, launched 'Wrong Ninna Nanna', an eclectic project combining a vinyl album and a video essay. The album, released in October 2020 on 35mm (a sublabel of 42Records), features twelve texts by Berardi reflecting on the contemporary zeitgeist, including themes of social, political, and environmental collapse. The music includes piano compositions and field recordings by Marco Bertoni (founder of Confusional Quartet), with vocals by Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream) and Lydia Lunch. The video essay, 'Wrong Ninna Nanna – The Movie', was created by artists Cuoghi Corsello and Filippo Janez Bertoni, using compressed and rarefied imagery inspired by Hito Steyerl's concept of the poor image. The project was prompted by the 2019-2020 wildfires in the Amazon and Australia, which Berardi sees as a prelude to planetary rebellion. Berardi argues that neoliberal violence combined with aggressive identity politics leaves no hope for a bearable life, and that non-procreation is a way to deny the future to the impending hell. The digital version of the album was released on April 25, 2021.