Safe-keeping (custodia) (2014), examines an archive of abandoned and unopened packages (fagotti in Italian) of personal belongings taken from patients on entering the former psychiatric hospital of Santa Maria Della Pietà in Rome.
The research is published in: Bennett, S (2019) 'Affecting Objects: the minor Gesture within a performative artistic research enquiry' in Boyd, C and Edwardes, C (Eds) Non-representational Theory and the Creative Arts, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Fagotto (2012)
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Facsimile fagotti were recreated in the studio and a series of choreographed gestures were recorded to re-enact the institution’s systems and procedures. This method required meaningful interpretations, imaginative insights and discernments in order to shift the register of the artistic research from a semi-fictive account to credible critique of the now-discredited Italian psychiatric system.
Breathing (2014) detail from four channel video installation
It is the potential of providing an affective encounter that is explored in Safe-keeping (custodia) through a four-channel audio visual installation comprising: Breathing;
Stifling; Scratching; and Over and Over. It was installed at the Museo Laboratorio Della Mente from 31 October - 30 November 2014, on the site of the former asylum.
Scratching (2014) detail from four channel video installation
