“I did not know where all of this would take us, nor did I care”
(Jack Kerouac – On the Road)
Who can tell where a poem left on the road goes? Nevermind, the need for freeing thoughts through the words is what matters most.
And if words will leave a mark on someone’s soul, if someone will stop for a while and think, if anyone will see beyond the sings on the wall and will understand the poem … then, everything will already make sense on its own.
This project was born exactly with the idea of releasing words and thoughts, letting them ‘run’ freely on the street.
In collaboration with the street poet Er Buio and the videomaker Valo, a project of contemporary art will be exposed in a shop window for a week, involving the street, the passers-by, the customers of the shop itself.
We will collect second - hand skateboard decks to make an artistic installation out of them: the decks, assembled on a panel, will be painted and will become “the sheet” on which to write the poem by Er Buio.
One poem, many words to fill up all the skateboards, sentence by sentence, line by line, bringing together all the skateboards’ owners and whoever will join, working directly on the street in front of the shop.
The installation will be displayed in the shop window for the entire week: not as merchandise, but as artistic action and free thoughts, act of participation rather than profit.
On Sunday 31th October, last day of RAW, the installation will be dismantled and the decks given back to their owners: the moment in which those words will be released.
A piece of poem to each girl and each boy, almost as a secret community that feels connected for that few words, binding them in the race of life.
All the skateboards whirling on the street together, that is how the poetry goes around the world: the performance will be filmed by Valo, and the video will deliver it to history.
An action made to bring back poetry to the street, after a long time in which words and thoughts have been confined under the four walls of the web.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Title: Poetry on the Road
Curated by: Penelope Filacchione
Where: via Luigi Ronzoni 44 – 00151 Roma
When: Live event 23rd October h. 17.30 – 20.30
Exhibition 24 – 30 October
Skate Performance and Streaming: 31st October h. 11.30 Rome - Ponte della Scienza
