“Men cannot see their reflection in running water, but only in stagnant water.”
— Chuang Tzu
 

Vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas — vanity of vanities, all is vanity. This biblical passage from Ecclesiastes has long embodied the idea that earthly ambitions, pleasures, and forms of glory are fleeting. It is the conceptual ground of the memento mori, the allegorical still life in which an hourglass glittering in the dark, a skull resting on a book, or a candle trembling beside a window become emblems of mortality, fragility, and the transience of beauty.
 

Starting from this tradition, I once again employ my technique of fake found footage: the fabrication of impossible films through the surreal animation of static images drawn from pre-cinematic cultures. Ancient engravings, paintings, miniatures, tapestries, and historical portraits are reactivated within a digital time machine that gathers imaginary fragments across centuries and recomposes them into a contemporary three-dimensional landscape.

This landscape briefly returns to life in the present, only to disintegrate before our eyes, devoured by digital insects or simply drifting into sleep before the animated hourglass on the screen of a memory-starved Mac Classic. The work unfolds across two adjacent screens: one showing the original image, the other its animated contemporary reworking.
 

Shows
Fuorinorma Festival, Rome - 2020

Ibrida Festival, Forlì - 2020
Varia 90, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, curated by Valentina Valentini, Rome - 2020

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Credits
Concept, art direction, animation, editing - Francesca Fini

Media
Other Identity #3 - open link