Propp, 2008

unique piece, professional Epson inkjet print on Premium Lustre inkjet paper, 72.5 x 168.2 x 3.3 cm (inner dimensions: 69.5 x 165.4 cm); lime wood frame (20×33 mm profile, black finish), mounted on 3 mm Dibond, anti-reflective glass with 70% UV protection, 6–7 mm white cardboard spacer, acid-free foam board, rear subframe with 2 concealed hangers.
Propp #1, dimensions: 207 x 87 cm + A.P.
Propp #2, dimensions: 179 x 71 cm + A.P.
Propp #3, dimensions: 169 x 73 cm + A.P.
Propp #4, 2008, video, time 1’, color 16:9, editions of 3 originals + a.p.
Propp #5, dimensions: 72.5 x 168.2 x 3.3 cm + A.P.

Football iconography is central to this project, taking its cue from an essay published in 1972 by the intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini, titled Discorso sul calcio (Discourse on Football), in which the author applies the framework of linguist Vladimir Propp to understand the underlying structures of meaning in the game of football. The artist borrows this approach, adapting it to the visual arts through a system of signs and graphics originating from the comparison between photography and written-spoken language. The artist constructs an image where he appears in the same frame alongside Pasolini and his teammates, aiming to execute a game action and give life to a communication abstractly regulated by code and expressively conveyed through the spontaneity of play.

GAP, 2008

Gap #1, #2, #3, edition of 4 originals + A.P. in different formats; professional Epson inkjet print on Premium Lustre inkjet paper; lime wood frame (20×33 mm profile, white finish), mounted on 3 mm Dibond, anti-reflective glass with 70% UV protection, 6–7 mm white cardboard spacer, acid-free foam board, rear subframe with 2 concealed hangers.

Gap #4, #5, #6, digital painting on maps by Ferruccio Montevecchi, museum-grade paper print mounted on aluminum, white wood frame, unique originals + A.P., dimensions: 52 x 36 cm; 42 x 52 cm; 52 x 42 cm.

Gap #7, video, duration: 3 minutes and 3 seconds, DVD, sound, color, edition of 3 originals + A.P.

This project addresses the complex relationship between memory and the present. The artist draws upon vernacular photography, in this instance appropriating the archive of Lieutenant Vittorio Vialli, a young geologist who, following the signing of the armistice between the Italians and the Anglo-American forces in 1943, was deported to a prisoner-of-war camp in northern Germany. An avid photographer, Vialli secretly documented his entire captivity through photographs that Chironi now reactivates by inhabiting their frames. Dressed in a black-and-white football kit—featuring colors similar to those of the prison uniform—the artist creates spatio-temporal short circuits through which the historical narrative re-emerges. Playing inside the detention camp thus represents the sole moment of escape for the prisoners.