Bridget Baker, E dovunque (in search of an untailored account)
26 May 2015
Bridget Baker, E dovunque†(in search of an untailored account), 2015 (in progress). Installation view, American Academy in Rome, Rome
Bridget Baker, E dovunque†(in search of an untailored account), 2015 (in progress). Installation view, American Academy in Rome, Rome
Bridget Baker, E dovunque†(in search of an untailored account), 2015 (in progress). Installation view, American Academy in Rome, Rome
E dovunque (in search of an untailored account) is a work in progress by Bridget Baker presented at the group exhibition Nero su Bianco at the American Academy in Rome (May 26th – July 19th, 2015)and curated by Lyle Ashton Harris, Robert Storr and Peter Benson Miller. It is realized with the support of Nomas Foundation and Nosadella.due (Bologna).
This presentation is a first elaboration resulting from research started during a residency at Nomas Foundation and Nosadella.due in 2014 and continued in 2015. Here the artist, whose work explores postcolonial ideas of memory, constructed truth and the problematics of authorship, focuses her attention on an event that took place in March 1966 in Rome; a mock-trial held to discuss the controversial movie Africa Addio, organized by the editorial staff of the weekly newspaper “La Tribuna Illustataâ€. Franco Prosperi, co-director of the movie with Gualtiero Jacopetti, was involved as accused and prosecuted by two black students from Ethiopia and Nigeria.
A jury was chosen consisting of 23 young students from Roman high schools who were directors and editors of their school's newspaper/s. The only recorded materials from the event are a newsreel and a report written of the trial and the polls, published in “La Tribuna Illustrataâ€. This led Bridget Baker to attempt to find the participants at the event, contacting them in order to ask them of their memories of the event and the film, in order to stimulate questions and attitudes that remain open and unanswered.