On The Road
Harking back to the famous autobiographical novel written in 1951 by Jack Kerouac, On the Road is a curatorial project devised for Jacobacci & Partners at Kilometro Rosso. Just as in Kerouac’s book, which became the ‘manifesto’ of the Beat Generation – a road trip through post-war America, set to the rebellious rhythms of jazz – here too the theme of the road, or rather the motorway, comes into play. But what actually emerges is a silent, intimate and dreamlike journey. One that brings together the expressive forays of two artists: Ferdi Giardini and Daniele Ratti.
Ferdi’s work has an undeniably evocative title: Caldo, temporale, grano appena tagliato, profumo (‘Heat, storm, freshly cut wheat, scent’). It is a major installation piece – the largest the artist has created to date. Produced in 2007 specifically for this venue, it is conceived as a long, sinuous yellow wall. It acts as a partition that defines the individual spaces, creating access ways and distinguishing them from the corridor, while allowing light to pass through, lending the whole a golden hue. It measures fifteen metres in length, three metres in height and four and a half centimetres in thickness, and is made of polymethyl methacrylate, with a core of transparent cellular polycarbonate. But beyond its purpose and material texture, the image conjured up in this work by Ferdi is that of a field of wheat along the edge of the motorway that runs past the Kilometro Rosso. It is the scent of ripe wheat, the sound of cicadas, the hue of the light, the taste of the air after a summer storm.
Daniele’s work is titled Next Stop and consists of a photographic narrative created along the open road. It portrays an eighteen-day journey across Italy during the Covid-19 lockdown. Thanks to a particular set of circumstances, the artist was given permission to drive freely along the silent tarmac, stopping off at empty car parks and deserted motorway service stations. Following his own path, Daniele gradually discovered a taste for slowness, for observation, for introspection and the search for oneself. The journey through this absolute solitude thus became a chance not only to document something unique but above all to capture the portrait of a context that turns into a metaphysical space, a place of the imagination, a metaphor for a journey into the inner self. For the Kilometro Rosso venue, a collection of twenty-eight photographs from this body of work, printed in various sizes, has been selected.
And by virtue of their silence, every single image offers an experience that goes far beyond that of mere vision.
Thus, Ferdi Giardini and Daniele Ratti, a sculptor and a photographer, each set out on their own journey to interpret the spirit of a place. The motorway represents a special borderland, where nature ends and the tarmac begins. It is a place that symbolically opens up to discovery, encouraging ‘lateral thinking’ and prompting us to imagine a new journey without ever losing sight of the surrounding environment. Right on the edge of this dual reality, the encounter between two poetic souls took shape and gave rise to this project.
On the Road: it’s time to set off on a journey and let the adventure begin!
Elena Re
