Io non sono solo uno studente (I am not just a student)
Io non sono solo uno studente (I am not just a student) is a festival created by a group of fourth-year students from the Liceo Volta in Milan as part of the project A chi stiamo parlando? supported by Fondazione Cariplo and Tavola Valdese.
In September 2022 Video Sound A launched an experimental campus composed of students, artists, teachers, researchers, architects and curators.
The project was born from an investigation into the city’s cultural proposals in relation to young audiences, who often perceive themselves as passive recipients of choices made elsewhere. Are there practices capable of reversing this trend?
Guided by the Video Sound Art team, the students devised six artistic interventions scattered around their school. The route unfolds between classrooms, gyms and laboratories and shows the life of the school from the point of view of those who attend it every day.
The realisation took place thanks to the constant support and complex mediation work of teacher Stefania Santagostino.
CAPITOLO 54 (CINQUANTAQUATTRO)
CAPITOLO 55 (CINQUANTACINQUE)
CAPITOLO 56 (CINQUANTASEI)
CAPITOLO 57 (CINQUANTASETTE)
le nostre reti (relazionali) come spinta, come invito
il pubblico è il soggetto artistico
lo stato degli spazi, la riassegnazione è arte
e questi luoghi sono fatti per essere arte
sono fatti, in fondo, per essere occupati
non è tanto l’anti-scuola, il complementare della scuola
perché noi siamo la scuola, e questa è la scuola, in questi spazi
questa è una scuola con il suo nuovo modo di vedere l’arte
Excerpt from the student Manifesto
Installations
La dimensione del sonno (The sleep dimension)
curated by Matteo Bono, Maria Vittoria Di Martino, Teresa Fabbri, Greta Parolin, Riccardo Pratesi, Clelia Ricci, Karam Saad
Discover more about the installation
Sleep is important, and we know it, but very often, like everyone else, we forget about it, because after all, we are young and health seems to be the least of our problems. How many times have we told ourselves ‘eight hours of sleep is too much, five is enough’, continually postponing rest and dragging our tiredness through the day? In a world where everything is constantly connected and we are constantly subjected to multiple inputs, it seems absurd to be able to disconnect even to sleep, so we stay awake even when we don’t have to study, constantly thinking about our day and what we could do with that time we are ‘throwing away’ to sleep. How many times have we felt tired or listless? How many times do we not remember things and our thoughts get jumbled up? All of this can be avoided simply by going to bed a little earlier: sleep helps us to keep our concentration high, to remember information better and also to be in a much better mood. What about stress? How can we sleep if stress prevents us from doing so? And so begins a vicious circle, in which we do not rest because it is inconvenient and when we should do so, we fail because our brain cannot switch off.
Danzando in libertà (Dancing freely)
curated by Anna D’Amore, Annalisa Lei, Alessia Missora, Polina Moskvina, Lorenzo Pigna, Kiyara Wickramage
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The installation recreates the atmosphere of a nightclub, the end point of a student’s week. The soft light and music, a time to get away from everyday worries. The space is an invitation to get rid of thoughts through movement.
We thought of inserting a space within the exhibition that completely isolates itself from the rest and gives the viewer the opportunity to move as they wish and get rid of stress through movement.
Unfocused
curated by Tommaso Frigerio, Yesuqi Lin, Pietro Pilloni, Ksenya Sadchanka, Emma Vincenti
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The bell rings, you are already seated, the 55 minutes begin to pass inexorably, you breathe, you begin to think about the test, but at this moment you have difficulty thinking, why now? You read the questions, you breathe, the bell tower on the road next door decides to ring, as it does every day, you breathe, the ringing of the bells continues, by now you are resigned, it is deafening, concentrating is impossible, see you at the next test. Now that you think about it, it is so easy to get distracted. It only takes a moment, remember that video? That news story? Of that song? You try, because you try, concentration just doesn’t come, but how is that your fault? If you’re thinking about that you’re not thinking about the test, how about now? Time to think is over, five minutes left, breathe, you’ll think about it another time.
The installation, starting from the experience of the classroom test, highlights the elements of disturbance and stress perceived in the classroom. On some desks, instead of test sheets, the visitor will find illustrations decontextualised from the theme of the installation: the test is the tool through which the students have chosen to explore the theme of distraction.
Interferenza di priorità (Priority interference)
curated by Sibilla Avesio, Edoardo Balistri, Sara Fracassi, Cesar Marenghi, Leonardo Trifirò
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Events slip in between the folds of what can be a life, in those little interludes, occasionally jumping on the cover, or occupying a space in the foreground from which some primary force pulls them away, moving them back again. The existential dynamics of a teenager are carried along by these almost uncontrollable waves: we are subjected to our own actions.
This is why we thought to explore through sound, the phenomenon of attention and concentration and in particular its role. We often find ourselves almost drowning in a sea of information and stimuli. A sample of a sensory experience invades a space characterised by generally monotonous and repetitive auditory and visual forms to form the installation we present: everything converges towards this constant divergence.
Ad astra
curated by Alessandro Baldeschi, Emma Casagrande, Jasmine Gouda, Caterina Zucchetti.
The De siderum podcast was produced by Sara Fracassi, Jasmine Gouda, Caterina Zucchetti.
Discover more about the installation
sīdŭs
[sīdŭs], sideris
neutral noun 3rd declension
1 ASTRONOMY star, astro, celestial body
2 (figuratively) night, season, epoch, storm
3 ASTRONOMY (plural) sky, region of stars
τηλεσκόπος [-ον]
[thleskopos]
adjective
who sees from afar
Our sap is desire, what runs through our veins is going beyond, breaking down barriers. We raise bridges, we destroy obstacles. We yearn for the infinite, we yearn for the stars, their warm glow, their bright hope. Today we want to reclaim the spaces that confine us and expand them, make them our own: today we want to paint with light in the dark and observe our work. We are like this, we are young, we are students, and we have dreams and chimeras, we build our castles in the air with the tools in our hands: today we use these tools to build something greater, to expand our and your horizons, to breathe freedom.
Download the installation text
Listen to the podcast De siderum realized by the students Sara Fracassi, Jasmine Gouda e Caterina Zucchetti.
Performance
La realtà dopo il sonno (Reality after sleep) | lecture hall atrium
16 – 17 March
h 18.00, h 19.00, h 20.00, h 21.00
curated by Matteo Bono
Io non sono solo uno studente (I am not just a student) | lecture hall and first floor corridor
16 – 17 March
h 18.00, lecture hall atrium
h 20.00, first floor corridor
curated by Edoardo Balistri, Matteo Bono, Sara Fracassi, Jasmine Gouda, Polina Moskvina, Caterina Zucchetti
Talk to me | gym
16 – 17 March
h 18.00 – h 22.00
curated by Anna D’Amore, Annalisa Lei, Alessia Missora, Polina Moskvina, Lorenzo Pigna, Kiyara Wickramage
Performers: Emma Casagrande, Anna D’Amore, Tommaso Frigerio, Polina Moskvina, Emma Vincenti
DJing at Volta | gym
Live set
17 March
h 19.30 – 22.00
Live set curated by Sibilla Avesio, Anna D’Amore, Jasmine Gouda, Polina Moskvina, Lorenzo Pigna
in collaboration with Francesco Sileo
Podcast
To accompany the installation Ad astra, set up in the physics laboratory, students Sara Fracassi, Jasmine Gouda and Caterina Zucchetti created De siderum, a podcast dedicated to the dreams and aspirations of their peers and professors, interspersed with scientific and mythological notions about astronomy and the culture of desire.
Listen to the podcast De siderum
The festival was realised by the students of the Liceo Volta in Milan:
Sibilla Avesio, Alessandro Baldeschi, Edoardo Balistri, Matteo Bono, Emma Casagrande, Anna D’Amore, Maria Vittoria Di Martino, Teresa Fabbri, Sara Fracassi, Tommaso Frigerio, Jasmine Gouda, Annalisa Lei, Yesuqi Lin, Cesar Marenghi, Alessia Missora, Polina Moskvina, Greta Parolin, Lorenzo Pigna, Pietro Pilloni, Riccardo Pratesi, Clelia Ricci, Karam Saad, Ksenya Sadchanka, Leonardo Trifirò, Emma Vincenti, Kiyara Wickramage, Caterina Zucchetti.
Special thanks to headmaster Domenico Squillace, teacher Stefania Santagostino and administrative manager Maria Semeraro of the Liceo Volta in Milan.
Video Sound Art:
Laura Lamonea, progettazione e curatela, Sofia Gemelli, coordinamento e organizzazione; Lino Palena, video e produzione, Francesco Lupia, architettura e exhibition design, Francesca Mainardi, scrittura e comunicazione, Francesco Sileo, live set.
Campus guests:
Bianca Ambrosio, curator, Thomas Ba, curator, Oli Bonzanigo, artist, Carmen Bruno, researcher at the Creativity Centre of the Politecnico di Milano, Daniel De Paula, artist, Caterina Morigi, artist, Anita Wilczega, production, Agnese dell’Omo, Gaia Lazzerini e Ileana Rutigliano, education and production assistants.
Io non sono solo uno studente
(I am not just a student)
16 – 17 March 2023
h 18.00 – 22.00
Venue:
Liceo Volta
entrance on via Settala, Milan
With the contribuition of:
Fondazione Cariplo
8 per mille Chiesa Valdese
In collaboration with:
Liceo Volta