BEAUTIFUL BURNING PRISONS (2022), Video installation, 3 channels, 6’26’’, 16:9.
BBP is a three-channel video installation. The work is composed of three videos: two has been recorded at the Centro Penal de Maxima Seguridad Zacatecoluca and one in La Bertolina de Sonsonate, Detention Center, both of whom are in El Salvador. The original videos are shot to monitor the conditions of inmates inside detention facilities. The camera is entrusted to one of the inhabitants of the cell, who spontaneously moves within the space, restoringits brutality through the spontaneity of his own eyes. Once we acquired the original videos, we decided to work on them, trying to eliminate any form of possible voyeurism and documentary aspect typical of documentaries dedicated to this type of environment.
Multichannel sample of the 3 channel edition.
Single Channel Edition, Installation view at Spazio Punch, Venice.
The images altered in their temporality are slowed down, as well as the audio. The visual aspect is transfigured, and scenes from negative to black and white alternate. The three video channels communicate with each other at regular intervals. The images and sounds alternate and, through a slide, pass from one channel to another, making the focus on work difficult and disorienting. The audio is extremely disturbing and sometimes seems like a prayer noise: the sum of a continuous whisper and whisper accompanied by a longing for damnation. The work reflects on the repetitiveness and brutality of the concept of prison in the contemporary world. In our opinion, an institution with no functions other than mere condemnation.