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A DREAM IN STONE - THE ARTWORKS
Sedition is delighted to release A Dream in Stone, Francesca Fini's stunning new project that turns the amazing Renaissance frescoes of the Medieval castle, the Rocca Sinibalda Castle near Rome, into a cutting-edge digital art collection. A Dream in Stone is a special collection born from Fini's residency in this historic castle. The collection is made up of 8 video artworks, each inspired by a key SciFi theme: Earth after humanity disappears.
VIDEO 1 - The Planet
This is the very first video of the collection, the one that opens our journey. The slow sequence shot of a virtual handheld camera guides us to the discovery of the exoplanet where an alien intelligence has collected all the relics and memories of Humanity.
But, unlike in the classic iconography of science fiction stories, we don't land from above. We emerge from below. We rise from the dark depths of the planet, transformed into the messy warehouses of a lost civilization, to discover this story within history.
What year are we in? Where are we now? What happened to our home, Planet Earth? We wonder and wander, while the viewfinder of our drone-shaped eyes glimpses the precious fragments of a fresco kept in a magical cubic case, and bizarre machinery bearing the faces of ancient divinities.
The question is idle since this journey from below is the journey of the unconscious and the dream.
But, unlike in the classic iconography of science fiction stories, we don't land from above. We emerge from below. We rise from the dark depths of the planet, transformed into the messy warehouses of a lost civilization, to discover this story within history.
What year are we in? Where are we now? What happened to our home, Planet Earth? We wonder and wander, while the viewfinder of our drone-shaped eyes glimpses the precious fragments of a fresco kept in a magical cubic case, and bizarre machinery bearing the faces of ancient divinities.
The question is idle since this journey from below is the journey of the unconscious and the dream.
VIDEO 2 - The Red Mask
In the second video of the collection, I tell the myth of Proserpina, one of the most beautiful representations by Girolamo Muziano, standing out in the room of the Metamorphoses at Rocca Sinibalda Castle.
The young kidnapped Proserpina encloses in her mystery the sacred amazement of men at the alternation of the seasons, in the ferocious and relentless rhythm of nature that devours and renews itself.
Autumn and Spring, Winter and Summer, Old Age and Youth, Death and Life are sides of the same coin. In this video, the eternally spinning medal on which our lives hang, has the shape of a red mask, melting in front of us in a clot of red blood, soft and elastic like a cloth. A cloth that unravels, falls, bounces, and comes back.
Everything is consumed and everything is reborn, in the eternal return which is the very essence of metamorphosis.
The young kidnapped Proserpina encloses in her mystery the sacred amazement of men at the alternation of the seasons, in the ferocious and relentless rhythm of nature that devours and renews itself.
Autumn and Spring, Winter and Summer, Old Age and Youth, Death and Life are sides of the same coin. In this video, the eternally spinning medal on which our lives hang, has the shape of a red mask, melting in front of us in a clot of red blood, soft and elastic like a cloth. A cloth that unravels, falls, bounces, and comes back.
Everything is consumed and everything is reborn, in the eternal return which is the very essence of metamorphosis.
VIDEO 3 - The Motherboard
The journey to an artificial alien planet, where an alien intelligence collected and stored the memories and relics of Humanity, takes us to the operational center of the Macrostructure.
We visit the Central Computer Area. I created this scenario using a 3D elaboration of one of the facades of the great courtyard of the Castle. Shining ribbons depart from the stone walls, conveying digital information to and from the heart of the structure.
The Castle repeats itself and multiplies, reflected in the water mirror of its underground cistern. We are now crossing a large portal guarded by Minerva, standing out in one of the fake bas-reliefs painted by Girolamo Muziano.
Emerging from the deep water is the Motherboard, crossed by iconic metamorphoses: the Winged Victory (Fire), a tree (Earth), a luminous marine wave (Water), and the mutilated statue of Venus, mapped with a serene Renaissance sky (Wind).
The Motherboard holds an egg in her wombs, and Minerva is reflected in the shiny egg, visually affirming her dual role of protector and protected. As well as the inhabitants of the Castle, simultaneously guarded and guardians of Time.
We visit the Central Computer Area. I created this scenario using a 3D elaboration of one of the facades of the great courtyard of the Castle. Shining ribbons depart from the stone walls, conveying digital information to and from the heart of the structure.
The Castle repeats itself and multiplies, reflected in the water mirror of its underground cistern. We are now crossing a large portal guarded by Minerva, standing out in one of the fake bas-reliefs painted by Girolamo Muziano.
Emerging from the deep water is the Motherboard, crossed by iconic metamorphoses: the Winged Victory (Fire), a tree (Earth), a luminous marine wave (Water), and the mutilated statue of Venus, mapped with a serene Renaissance sky (Wind).
The Motherboard holds an egg in her wombs, and Minerva is reflected in the shiny egg, visually affirming her dual role of protector and protected. As well as the inhabitants of the Castle, simultaneously guarded and guardians of Time.
VIDEO 4 - Narcissus Spaceship
In the fourth video of the collection, I decided to build the Narcissus Space Ship, inspired by the classical myth depicted by Girolamo Muziano in one of the frescoes at Rocca Sinibalda Castle.
Narcissus ship is a bright platform suspended in a deep blue sky, all covered with shiny mirrors that constantly transform the structure under our eyes, as we approach the image of the young man kidnapped by his reflection.
I reworked the depiction of Muziano as a stained-glass composition, to visually evoke the fragmentary nature of this very suggestive figure of classical mythology.
The image itself, the original one painted by Girolamo Muziano and inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, will undergo further digital transformations during the video, until its inevitable disintegration: mirroring itself, reflecting itself in a glossy CGI scenario, or merging into surreal reworkings operated by guided artificial intelligence neural networks.
Narcissus ship is a bright platform suspended in a deep blue sky, all covered with shiny mirrors that constantly transform the structure under our eyes, as we approach the image of the young man kidnapped by his reflection.
I reworked the depiction of Muziano as a stained-glass composition, to visually evoke the fragmentary nature of this very suggestive figure of classical mythology.
The image itself, the original one painted by Girolamo Muziano and inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, will undergo further digital transformations during the video, until its inevitable disintegration: mirroring itself, reflecting itself in a glossy CGI scenario, or merging into surreal reworkings operated by guided artificial intelligence neural networks.
VIDEO 5 - The Warriors
I set the fifth video of the collection in a desert. We have reached the driest landscape of the exoplanet.
Golden dunes guide us towards a machine with noisy gears, powered by futuristic alien photovoltaic devices: an exotic structure with mysterious functioning and unpredictable intentions.
At the center of the machine, we see a metallic armor, which is the perfect 3D reconstruction of one of the beautiful armors painted by Girolamo Muziano in the Metamorphoses room at Rocca Sinibalda Castle.
Muziano painted two armors facing each other on the opposite walls of the room: one male and one female. Here the visionary painter adopts a very original and unusual solution for the time: the warrior and the she-warrior challenge each other on the same visual level, with a graphic equivalence and a perfect symmetry of weight, colors, and dimensions.
The male and female elements are the sides of the same coin, in a mythological scenario which is by its nature continuous, holistic, and, therefore, digital long before the digital age.
Golden dunes guide us towards a machine with noisy gears, powered by futuristic alien photovoltaic devices: an exotic structure with mysterious functioning and unpredictable intentions.
At the center of the machine, we see a metallic armor, which is the perfect 3D reconstruction of one of the beautiful armors painted by Girolamo Muziano in the Metamorphoses room at Rocca Sinibalda Castle.
Muziano painted two armors facing each other on the opposite walls of the room: one male and one female. Here the visionary painter adopts a very original and unusual solution for the time: the warrior and the she-warrior challenge each other on the same visual level, with a graphic equivalence and a perfect symmetry of weight, colors, and dimensions.
The male and female elements are the sides of the same coin, in a mythological scenario which is by its nature continuous, holistic, and, therefore, digital long before the digital age.
VIDEO 6 - The Scorpion and the Spaceship
In this video of the collection I explore the vertical format. We are now in the Archive most secret and mysterious place, where the symbols of the Castle are kept: the scorpion, a tutelary animal that inspired its stony shape, and the heraldic coat of arms.
The sacred scorpion rises from a gold-flecked terracotta vase, which is the detailed 3D reconstruction of one of the ornamental vases in the frescoes by Girolamo Muziano in the Room of Metamorphoses. Its sharp tail stings a sphere, feeding the spacecraft's complex ecosystem.
The sacred scorpion rises from a gold-flecked terracotta vase, which is the detailed 3D reconstruction of one of the ornamental vases in the frescoes by Girolamo Muziano in the Room of Metamorphoses. Its sharp tail stings a sphere, feeding the spacecraft's complex ecosystem.
VIDEO 7 - The Coat of Arms
In this video of the collection I explore the vertical format. We are now in the Archive most secret and mysterious place, where the symbols of the Castle are kept: the scorpion, a tutelary animal that inspired its stony shape, and the heraldic coat of arms.
A precious golden and red satin capsule contains a cloth where the heraldic coat of arms of Rocca Sinibalda Castle stands out.
The coat of arms of ancient dynasties is a layered visual synthesis of their history over the centuries. In those colors, shapes, and images we see the perpetuation of legacy and genealogies: feuds and alliances, military conquests, marriages and defeats. The history of the Castle is contained in that symbol, now kept forever in its time capsule.
A precious golden and red satin capsule contains a cloth where the heraldic coat of arms of Rocca Sinibalda Castle stands out.
The coat of arms of ancient dynasties is a layered visual synthesis of their history over the centuries. In those colors, shapes, and images we see the perpetuation of legacy and genealogies: feuds and alliances, military conquests, marriages and defeats. The history of the Castle is contained in that symbol, now kept forever in its time capsule.
VIDEO 8 - The Divine Bull
Europa kidnapped by Jupiter in the shape of a seductive beautiful bull. Giorolamo Muziano's fresco sets this famous ancient myth in an idyllic landscape full of frozen serenity. Even the violence, ideally underlying the act of kidnapping, seems to dissolve in the stillness and composure of the figures. The bull is strangely meek as if tamed in turn by the girl. Girolamo Muziano always gives us a personal perspective of the stories he tells, reinterpreting them.
In my video, the classic myth of Jupiter/Bull blends with the Judeo-Christian myth of the golden calf. We meet the totem at the end of a tunnel suspended in the clouds, encouraged by the silent invitation of one of the robots guarding the alien exoplanet.
The almost motionless animal is resting on top of a hill extracted from Planet Earth and kept as an organic relic of an ideal Nature.
In my video, the classic myth of Jupiter/Bull blends with the Judeo-Christian myth of the golden calf. We meet the totem at the end of a tunnel suspended in the clouds, encouraged by the silent invitation of one of the robots guarding the alien exoplanet.
The almost motionless animal is resting on top of a hill extracted from Planet Earth and kept as an organic relic of an ideal Nature.
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