[sound piece]
Versed in the Void
Versed in the Void
By Josephine Baan, in collaboration with Amos Cappuccio
︎listen to “Versed in the Void”Versed in the Void first emerged as a performance in the Turin spring of 2019, where it was developed in conversation with Amos Cappuccio and Chiara Cecconello over the tight span of two weeks. We hadn’t met before we started rehearsing the piece, yet from our spontaneous and delicate assembly ensued a collaboration that was as intense as it was meaningful, a dialogue that is ongoing until this day.
Versed in the Void articulates the complexities of collectivity, navigating the individual within the whole and attempting to formulate solidarity across difference. The void here refers to the inconceivability of the future as well as the space between any two subjectivities. These notions take on an added layer of meaning in light of today, where a radically altered present coupled with enforced social distancing continues to widen the gap between ‘us’ and ‘them.’
Initially, in light of the exhibition inter:archive, Amos and I had begun taking gentle steps towards developing a new piece together. When the exhibition was forced to convert from physical to digital space, we decided to rework the audio track of Versed in the Void instead, giving voice to its renewed sense of urgency. What had meant to set the stage for a new work has now become a re-articulation of existing words, tasting each syllable anew as they are spoken out loud. Physical gestures of revolt and unification that were originally performed are audible in the track, and through a set of image-instructions you are invited to perform them from your own home.
In the run up to inter:archive, before any of us went on lockdown, many of our conversations revolved around questions of collective mobilisation, and how to develop networks of solidarity that reshape the ways in which we live and work together for the long term. These past few weeks have prompted a great number of initiatives and grassroots organisations to spring up in response to the increased precarity of these times. We wanted to list several of these mutual aid initiatives here, to learn from and engage in collective practices within our direct environments.
Art Workers Italia is an informal, autonomous, and non-partisan group of contemporary art workers formed in response to the current crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Learn more about them on: https://artworkersitalia.it/
SWARM is a sex worker led collective based in the UK. They are building a hardship fund for sex workers in crisis, you can support them by donating via https://www.swarmcollective.org/donate
Voor14 is an initiative which fights for a redistribution of wealth and greater financial equity in The Netherlands, starting with raising the minimum wage to 14 euros. Sign their petition here: https://campagnes.degoedezaak.org/campaigns/pledge-voor14 and find out more here: https://www.voor14.nl/
Hamlet, Mateo Chacon-Pino and School of Commons have created a survey for artists and art workers in Switzerland, to document how they have been impacted by the pandemic. You can fill out the survey here: https://hamlet.love/survey
written by Josephine Baan
May 2020
Details:
Versed in the Void, audio track 29 minutes
Voices and performers: Josephine Baan, Amos Cappuccio, and Chiara Cecconello
First performed at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in 2019, as part of the exhibition Here Not Here
Text and images by Josephine Baan
Audio by Amos Cappuccio
References:
Amore lontano da casa by Italo Calvino
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
The Backyard by Robert Ashley
Eugène Ionesco
Josephine Baan is an artist based in Rotterdam and Zurich. She performs with her body and voice, and makes installations, props, scripts and choreographies that explore the spaces and relationships between the flesh and the word, human and non-human bodies. Amos Cappuccio lives and works between Geneva and Turin. He graduated in Electronic Music at the Conservatory in Turin and currently attends the CCC Research-Based Art Practices master at HEAD - Geneva. He is co-founder of ALMARE, a curatorial project that uses sound as a medium.
Versed in the Void articulates the complexities of collectivity, navigating the individual within the whole and attempting to formulate solidarity across difference. The void here refers to the inconceivability of the future as well as the space between any two subjectivities. These notions take on an added layer of meaning in light of today, where a radically altered present coupled with enforced social distancing continues to widen the gap between ‘us’ and ‘them.’
Initially, in light of the exhibition inter:archive, Amos and I had begun taking gentle steps towards developing a new piece together. When the exhibition was forced to convert from physical to digital space, we decided to rework the audio track of Versed in the Void instead, giving voice to its renewed sense of urgency. What had meant to set the stage for a new work has now become a re-articulation of existing words, tasting each syllable anew as they are spoken out loud. Physical gestures of revolt and unification that were originally performed are audible in the track, and through a set of image-instructions you are invited to perform them from your own home.
In the run up to inter:archive, before any of us went on lockdown, many of our conversations revolved around questions of collective mobilisation, and how to develop networks of solidarity that reshape the ways in which we live and work together for the long term. These past few weeks have prompted a great number of initiatives and grassroots organisations to spring up in response to the increased precarity of these times. We wanted to list several of these mutual aid initiatives here, to learn from and engage in collective practices within our direct environments.
Art Workers Italia is an informal, autonomous, and non-partisan group of contemporary art workers formed in response to the current crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Learn more about them on: https://artworkersitalia.it/
SWARM is a sex worker led collective based in the UK. They are building a hardship fund for sex workers in crisis, you can support them by donating via https://www.swarmcollective.org/donate
Voor14 is an initiative which fights for a redistribution of wealth and greater financial equity in The Netherlands, starting with raising the minimum wage to 14 euros. Sign their petition here: https://campagnes.degoedezaak.org/campaigns/pledge-voor14 and find out more here: https://www.voor14.nl/
Hamlet, Mateo Chacon-Pino and School of Commons have created a survey for artists and art workers in Switzerland, to document how they have been impacted by the pandemic. You can fill out the survey here: https://hamlet.love/survey
written by Josephine Baan
May 2020
Details:
Versed in the Void, audio track 29 minutes
Voices and performers: Josephine Baan, Amos Cappuccio, and Chiara Cecconello
First performed at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in 2019, as part of the exhibition Here Not Here
Text and images by Josephine Baan
Audio by Amos Cappuccio
References:
Amore lontano da casa by Italo Calvino
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
The Backyard by Robert Ashley
Eugène Ionesco
Josephine Baan is an artist based in Rotterdam and Zurich. She performs with her body and voice, and makes installations, props, scripts and choreographies that explore the spaces and relationships between the flesh and the word, human and non-human bodies. Amos Cappuccio lives and works between Geneva and Turin. He graduated in Electronic Music at the Conservatory in Turin and currently attends the CCC Research-Based Art Practices master at HEAD - Geneva. He is co-founder of ALMARE, a curatorial project that uses sound as a medium.