CALL ME (special project for Extra DRY #02, curated by Peep Hole, Milan), 2015
Created for the spaces of Dry, Call me is composed of three videos of twenty images edited in a slow sequence. The photographs are part of the archives of the artist, filed under the heading “on the phone,” and they accompany the verses of the Metaphysical Poem by Frank O’Hara, from 1964, in which the American poet and art critic notes down rapid images and snatches of conversation taken from the frenetic pace of Manhattan. Rovaldi uses the three screens of the venue as windows on the city. The images, in slow dissolves, of people talking on the telephone ideally connect the different places and cities where they were shot (Milan, New York, …), alighting on the quick words of the poet, which in turn evoke a long-distance dialogue. The sound of the city is only imagined. What remains is the sound of the venue, its music, its voices.
Extra DRY is a project of collaboration between Peep-Hole and DRY Cocktails & Pizza. The initiative comes from a shared desire to take contemporary art out of its usual places and experiment with its possible insertion in different contexts. The invitation on the part of the founders of DRY, who are also art lovers, to imagine a project that brings art into their venue, offers an opportunity for Peep-Hole to experiment with new ways of connecting with a wider audience, putting them in touch with contemporary artistic research. The high quality, contemporary spirit and accessibility that are DRY’s strong points become the guidelines for Extra DRY, a program of video screenings started in 2013.
Call me (01-02-03), three channel video installation, loop, 2015
Metaphysical Poem by Frank O’Hara
When do you want to go
I'm not sure I want to go there
where do you want to go
any place
I think I'd fall apart any place else
well I'll go if you really want to
I don't particularly care
but you'll fall apart any place else
I can just go home
I don't really mind going there
but I don't want to force you to go there
you won't be forcing me I'd just as soon
I wouldn't be able to stay long anyway
maybe we could go somewhere nearer
I'm not wearing a jacket
just like you weren't wearing a tie
well I didn't say we had to go
I don't care whether you're wearing one
we don't really have to do anything
well all right let's not
okay I'll call you
yes call me
From The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara. Copyright © 1971 by Maureen Granville-Smith. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
all images © Antonio Rovaldi