De/Portees. A multi screen projection in memory of the Italian Deportees. Apart from the best-known camp, located in Fossoli-Carpi (Emilia Romagna) hundreds of other locations were used as part of the chain in the mechanism to gather, arrest and deport Italian citizens and none, and deliver them to their fate.
Presented by: Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Osaka
Making use of video/computer projectors and monitors De/Portees uses as its contents the geographical location of the Italian camps used for detention, imprisonment and points of transfer to Nazi Concentration Camps located throughout the German occupied territories. Apart from the best-known camp, located in Fossoli-Carpi (Emilia Romagna) hundreds of other locations were used as part of the chain in the mechanism to gather, arrest and deport Italian citizens and none, and deliver them to their fate.
Projection #1: A computer generated list of the locations of camps throughout Italy using yellow type on a black background.
Projection #2: A computer generated list of the hometowns & villages of the deportees throughout Italy using blue type on a black background.
Monitor: A video of the published pages of the list of the deportees throughout Italy with a soundtrack of an English translation of a text by Primo Levi. The text will be written in Japanese for te exhibition in Kyoto.
The projections and monitor will be located within the gallery space of the exhibit to create a quality of “displacement” and to reveal the extent of the number, places and persons directly touched by the deportation. Using the extreme corners of the space the viewers’ sense of orientation is linked to the three “images” of names, places and the book of the list, pressing the association of the deportation with its roots in Italy.
The popular myth is of an Italy reluctantly and without much effort or organization collaborating under duress with their German/Nazi allies. The number of Italian camps and the quantity of people deported and arrested dispels the idea of lack of responsibility and brings together the evidence of location of the camps “sotto casa” in Italy.
In January 2010 De/Portees was exhibited at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di New York and in April 2010 at the Casa della Memoria e della Storia in Rome, Italy.
For information:
Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Osaka
Asahi Shimbun bldg. 6F, 3-2-4 Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0005 Japan
Tel.: 06-6229-0066 Fax: 06-6229-0067
E-mail: iicosaka@esteri.it
http://www.iicosaka.esteri.it
Incontri Internazionali d'Arte
Palazzo Taverna Via Monte Giordano, 36 - 00186 Roma
Tel. 06.68804009 Fax 06.68803993
mostre@incontriinternazionalidarte.it
http://www.incontriinternazionalidarte.it
www.jacksal.com
The Kyoto Museum for World Peace, Ritsumeikan University
56-1 Kitamachi, Toji-in, Kita-ku, Kyoto