PAAA0,91 Per Aspera Ad Astra

Video installation, my daily route from home to the Academy

The installation will remain open to the public to visit from Tuesday 10th October to Saturday 14th October, from 9am to 6pm.

As you ride the bike in the streets of Rome and you have two cameras to control, despite the path to do, cars, bikes and people to avoid, almost all your attention is focused on your ground projection.

A camcorder on the helmet resumes the SKY and the other one, placed on a rod, holds the actor in the hand and point it toward his SHADOW. Just as every day he does his home trip to the Academy. The video shows that sometimes the SHADOW is behind the bike, and the cyclist must look behind himself to find the position of the SHADOW and point the rod to the protagonist (SHADOW)!

The actor risks his life watching her own SHADOW. In the absence of his SHADOW he feels dead, because as the prisoners of the Platonic Myth of the Cave, the actor identifies himself with his projection on the ground, His attention is always focused on his SHADOW. He is almost the SHADOW itself, living on the ground.

But at the same time unconsciously he also seeks the light, because without the light it is impossible to see the projection of it's OWN, and consequently also seeks its true being and the same sun that emits light! It can happens to everyone that, to do something with such a commitment, you forget the rest of your life!In the "backstage" the actor tries to drive the bike in the parts of the street lit up by the sun and the director, where to look for a beautiful and sunny day to be able to shoot! But it is not only the protagonist (SHADOW) in the video that makes this adventure, it is also the actor that in real life is the one who risks his life to play this role: it looks like a meditation. The protagonist, the actor's SHADOW, the actor who seeks to follow the protagonist and director who seeks to find the sun to expose the actor to the light, the writer who writes and looks at this show from above, all of them are the same person, It's me! Watching the video, the spectator unconsciously gives more attention to the image of the SHADOW than the SKY. The unconscious search of the SKY and the sun can be seen in the SKY image.

In the video-installation project, the Spectator gets on the bike, pedals and would be immersed in two images: up side, he finds the SHADOW and under the bike, there is the SKY. Incredibly he walks in the SKY. And who pedals, is the Soul, that looking up and sees the SHADOW, the material world.

Most of the people when get up the bike, they immediately identifie themselves with the image of the SHADOW, saying "Ah here it is me." They also auto-synchronize with the SHADOW: I mean that they were pedaling when The SHADOW were riding, and they stopped when SHODOW was stopped. After a while they also realized the SKY image under the bike, but only a few people watch it for a while. When I asked "Wich picture do you like?" They answered "both," but when I asked "what picture do you like to look at more?" Almost everyone answered "The SHADOW, because it is more animated, it is more alive, it is more REAL". Asking "but how do you feel about the SKY underneath you?" They said, "Awesome, as if I was flying like E.T. [movies], there are trees, palaces, clouds, it's abstract." But OMBRA remained the most attractive image.

"The truth about themselves on a real bike in the SKY" and "the reality

of the SHADOW that represented their daily lives and their actions "are two important factors in this installation.

Those who pedaled did not have much control over the bike ride and went where the SHADOW guided them. But all this happened just after getting on the bike. Before that, everyone was watching and at the very least said "well interesting" or asked "what does that mean?" And my answer was always: "ride on the bike and pedal please."

© Salim Mir Alaiee May 2017.

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