Collaborative live performance and art installation as part of Davide Dileo‘s project “Via (al)la musica“, held at Castello Sforzesco during the Milan Art Week 2021, and partenered with Raffaella De Chirico and Museo degli Strumenti Musicali (“Museum of Musical Instruments”).

Six discarded vertical pianos were repurposed by students of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (Milan) while being played for the very last time by five pianists led by Davide Dileo in a joint artistic and musical performance.

My interpretation of the project was to create a conceptual map and archive exploring the piano’s iconography in pop culture, touching upon the role of women, queer individuals, humour, and silence within the history of music. It references Aby Warburg’s Bilderatlas Mnemosyne, which traced recurring visual themes and patterns across the centuries.

“Via (al)la musica” was later included in Paratissima 2021, the 17th edition of Turin’s contemporary art festival at the ARTiglieria Con/temporary Art Center, curated by Olga Gambari, as part of the Special Projects section, and retitled “Ultima ri/composizione per pianoforte a 24 mani“. The pianos were exhibited alongside time-lapse footage from the Milan performance.