OBSERVATORY ON LIMITS
Project for a collective observation on limits
The positioning
of this observatory on the boundary line between the Italian Republic
and that of Slovenia, a border which has been strongly marked by historical
events, provides an extremely useful opportunity for a reflection on
the concept of limits.
From the time that the scission of the Holy Roman Empire took place,
the unitary conception of the world has physically broken down on this
border into two different and contrasting hemispheres: East and West
of the very same spatial and social dimension.
In recent years, this same border formed part of the long Iron curtain
which was sustained by means of a dense dialectic duel, if it is possible
to use such a euphemism when defining the coldly belligerent and aggressive
relationship that characterised the conflict between the two Major Systems:
Capitalism and Communism.
Even today, after the collapse of the Berlin wall, it is a boundary
which prevents the newly born Europe from attaining a complete identity.
The desire for unification is expressed solely through the extension
of its own limits towards the East: in other words, the presumed perfection
of he who, finding himself alone, proclaims himself "victor".
With no counterpoint whatsoever, the one remaining Major System has
found, amongst the recent ruins of the neighbouring East, a ready space
in which to strengthen its faith in itself.
This contextual analysis is of use when considering what the Observatory
on Limits intends to achieve, since it concerns precisely that concept
of limit/border which is also viewed as a mental dimension.
A dimension which is so deeply rooted in our formative experience as
to constitute a truly cultural heritage. So much so as to compel our
existence to find its own balance in the fragility of a constant clash
between Major Systems: Moral, Sexual, Racial, Ethnic, Cultural, Territorial,
etc.
The completeness of our being can be found by going beyond this limit,
to that point where our existence is able to contain the contrast of
opposites within one sole dimension, which includes both of them.
The implementation of this Observatory on Limits proposes overturning
the paradoxical unity of the contrast between Major Systems that is
responsible for the tension upon which the concept of limit/border,
both political and mental, rests. Paradoxical, because even if these
Major Systems are united in sustaining the existence of limit/border,
they cancel each other out once it begins to take shape. Observatory
on Limits thus intends to set up a structure which will permit that
single tension to be broken up into many tensions, directionally perpendicular
to it and alternating amongst themselves, by means of which it is possible
to flow from one side of the border to the other, and vice versa.
In constructing this Observatory, individual structures (seats) will
be used, set next to each other in alternate directions to face one
side of the limit/border and the other, giving rise to a choral whole
that divides the imaginary line of the real limit/border into many,
perpendicular and alternate, tensions.
At a visual level, this choral structure, which is also endowed with
a development in a vertical direction, aims to be a barrier that is
superimposed upon the pre-existing concept of limit/border. But in contrast
with what happens there, this structure fosters communication between
neighbours, by means of a collective gesture made by people who come
from both one side of the limit/border and the other, and who sit together
to observe.
The result is a line whose force and unity are now determined by the
collective expression of the mutual desire to go beyond, i.e. to pass,
to surpass the limit. Through the alternation of looking (the people
who come from Slovenia will look in the direction of Italy and the people
from Italy will gaze thoughtfully towards Slovenia) the deconstruction
of the limit/border is, implicitly, achieved and the multiplicity of
tensions that the Observatory on Limits hopes for, is created.
As regards the continuity with Observatory (1991), River Observatory
(1994) and Inner Observatory (1997), we are now faced with a substantial
change. Observatory on Limits (2000) turns the individual gesture made
by the artist into a gesture of a collective nature. Furthermore, it
is the strategy of action contained in the Observatory that is accomplished:
every individual thus becomes a potential subject who is responsible
for the thoughtful gesture of observation and is no longer merely the
recipient of reflections mediated by the artist.
anton roca
April 2000
