Mirror slabs set on the flooring of the ample entrance hall of the Yugoslav Film Archives Cinemateque reflect the interior of the building creating endless architectures. This is Alfredo Pirri’s installation named ‘Passi’ [Steps], as other artworks of his created from 2003 to date.
The Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrade launched the event to mark the second edition of ‘Fare cinema’ – the Week of Italian Cinema in the World, and the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and Serbia.
‘Passi’ is one of Pirri’s particularly successful artistic research work. They all stem from the same project and adopt the same technical method, but they differ the one from the other for the venues they are set up at and for their final scenic outcome. ‘Pirri’s ‘Passi’ artworks have been hosted in particularly symbolic locations as the Certosa di San Lorenzo in Padula (2003), Caesar’s Forum in Rome(2007), the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna (2011) and the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence(2012), and Palazzo Altemps in Rome (2018).
In Belgrade, the entrance hall of the Cinemateque, with its ample central atrium, becomes a setting resembling those designed by Piranesi, with stairways leading up and down, to and from unknown destinations. The visual depth is projected further unto an infinite space, within which finding one’s way is complex.
Alfredo Pirri was born in Cosenza in 1957 but has long been living and working in Rome. He likes to explore different art forms from painting to sculpture, from working on paper to creating environmental installations. His artistic language focuses on space, surfaces, colours, thus creating actual illuminated settings.
