ROBERT WILSON

“When I am asked to narrate the occurrences of Gibellina, to explain how it succeeded in rediscovering the identity of a living place after the catastrophe of the earthquake, I usually recur to a thought expressed by Valery, “Culture is all that remains when all the rest is forgotten.” With these words, Valery celebrates oblivion, its invaluable work of selection, the constant sifting action from which the painful and necessary human memory will arise like a precious relic or ruin.

In those places, such as Gibellina, where the day after the disaster the frail silence of grief seems to be the only presence in the dust and among the debris, once again the identity can be the adventure of choosing one’s own destiny after the defeat.”

Ludovico Corrao
(excerpt from a piece written on Robert Wilson’s Memorie della Terra Desolata)

In 1993 Robert Wilson first visited Gibellina, a Sicilian town that had been devastated by an earthquake 30 years ago, that has ever since promoted the arts in many forms as a way of remembering the tragedy and celebrating the human spirit. When Wilson saw the countryside and the monument to the memory of the earthquake, he found it a very inspiring landscape. He would go on to create a theatre piece, TSE (come in under the shadow of this red rock) that would premiere in Gibellina, and it was a strong inspiration for his installation Memory/Loss, which won the Golden Lion for sculpture at the Biennale di Venezia.

He also mounted this exhibition in Gibellina, a huge installation including many drawings and sketches he had made there or that were influenced by his memory of the countryside, combined with many pieces of sculpture, furniture, costumes, all objects that he felt in some way belonged in this haunting landscape.

PRODUCTION DATES
Gibellina, Italy, Baglio delle Case di Stefano, 24 September – 7 November 1993

Credits
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Robert Wilson
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