NONE is an Italian collective of multi-talented architects interested in exploring identity boundaries, the relationship between man and machine, between cinema and art and anything that history and progress offers to their attentive gaze. NONE’s work covers a wide range of fields, from immersive installations to the organisation of symposia with diverse professionals, critics, artists, producers, organisers and thinkers. Guided by the spirit of research and experimentation, the identity of the collective reveals itself as the work develops and its creativity is called on to intervene in different fields and disciplines. Angelo Di Bello interviews the members of NONE in their studio. Their conversation will be published on the Arshake in four parts. As a start, the collective describes its working methods and introduces two important projects, Hybrid Space, created for Toyota, and No Strata, realised for Farlo Santander in Sao Paulo (Brazil).
It is early afternoon on a mid-week day at the end of October, the last day of October in fact. It’s not cold and we’re in Rome. On the bench where I’m sitting, waiting for the exact time to knock on the front door so as not to be too early or too late for the scheduled appointment, the wind ushers in what will shortly be the leitmotif in the streets and on public transport: winter is here, the cold has suddenly arrived. I light a cigarette and while I mentally go over the material I’ve prepared for the meeting, I move to the part of the bench bathed in sunlight, warm and tangible, and I think, One must engage one’s entire body and every gesture to feel the passage of time between one season and the next. One must not be in a hurry to see the change, but rather patiently feel it. I arrive in front of the studio door on time, ring the intercom and am greeted by one of the founders of the NONE collective.
I’ve had this chat in mind for some time, which takes the form of an interview, after seeing their project Symposium, where artists and curators were called upon to discuss art, society, technology, aggregation, revolution and the market… in other words, a bit of everything. The intention, however, was to create an open debate where ideas could be shared and also a space where doubts could emerge, with cracks and new openings, where new ideas and actions could take root. During the symposium event, the will to create different actions was palpable – not the usual self-referential debates closed within the confines of the art market, but a statement that declared the need to do something, bringing energies and ideas together to navigate contemporary society.
In the office, we sit round a circular wooden table, whose form and material underlines the craftsmanship displayed by the person who selected the wood, transformed it and allowed it to become a functional and beautiful work. The three young people who founded NONE sit next to me: Gregorio, Mauro and Saverio.
Angelo di Bello: To call yourselves None could be interpreted as a declaration of intent. It makes me think that “no one (none)” signifies a negation of identity but also bestows the gift of a collective identity, which belongs to all. What does your name represent?
NONE: Let’s say there are several aspects to consider. The fact that a collective calls itself NONE is, to a certain extent, an oxymoron because, among other things, it consists of many different people: all and none. Perhaps the name also incorporates the theme of authorship, signifying that the author’s name is not important; we’re not the only artists to do this and, probably, many artists who do this also think that it’s not the name that matters but the work itself – not the who but the what. Also, in software menus, for example, the default setting is “none”; it is something, therefore, we often come across, so starting from a default setting was interesting…
… and also encourages us to situate ourselves alongside the word “business”, indicating that it is “none of your business”, something that has always amused us.
You met after the first work «Hybrid space» for Toyota. How did you come to create this work?
The fact is that our two organisations, Studio Nebula and Noidea Lab, have often worked with communication agencies on multimedia projects, so we met like that, at work…
… we immediately understood each other, simply put, we spoke the same language…
… and so we said to each other, “Why don’t we combine this understanding to create something that’s different?”. In other words, right from the start, there was this desire to involve each other in several projects, a desire to challenge ourselves, to see what might emerge and develop…
… and maybe this element, consisting of courage on the one hand and, to a certain extent, madness, on the other – also because we couldn’t do many of the projects we took on at the beginning, in the sense that we did them first and we learnt in the process – has forced us to suggest things that are slightly risky and, as a result, strengthened this common vision.
I would like to move on now to the present as I’m curious about your latest project, No Strata. How would you define it? How was it created? What led you to work in São Paulo and, above all, what led you to interact with society through a layered version of that same society?
It’s strange because this work was commissioned out of the blue. We came up on Google, as part of research carried out by the organisers of Farol Santader, a space for the international immersive arts in São Paulo…
… we also liked the fact that we were given free rein, in the sense that they provided us with the information about the place and city but then allowed us a lot of freedom, with all the pros and cons which excessive freedom entails. At that point, we started making things difficult for ourselves…
… we created the most technologically and technically complicated thing we could possibly imagine…
… the most complex system…
… but also something bursting with content: a message for society, a critical analysis, a mark; all these good intentions as a result of all this freedom. It’s rather mature, we told ourselves, because it leaves a message, a feeling, but is also rooted in reality and society – the social, economic and political aspects of contemporary society – and is profound too. The work also manages not to speak exclusively about São Paulo, it doesn’t only narrate that moment or focus exclusively on us. It is not self-referential, but rather traces a journey, a path in a dark wood of life that is complete and finishes with the vision of a birth. This can be guessed by the images: a light appears at the end, taking the shape of a foetus, a neonatal ultrasound, leaving the spectator with this image of a birth against a backdrop of the city, which may lead to a new humanity. The curator, Valentino Catricalà, has described it as post-humanism, a future vision of evolution – if not of progress, of evolution…
… or if not of evolution, a moment where you, the spectator, after having completed the journey, is within a space that has its own rhythm, which you must adapt to. Eventually you reach a point where everything stops, the space entirely given over to an image that is even more important and absolute than the frenetic rhythm…
… we haven’t described the work, you wanted us to describe the work…
No, not at all. It was not a question of describing the work, but rather of understanding how you want to discuss it. Do you feel like you’ve said everything you wanted to say?
There’s a lot more to say, in the sense that until now we have spoken of our approach and experience, but it’s completely different to that of the person who is confronted with the piece. It’s a very complex work because it recounts, precisely, the many layers of our society, from the economic and the social to infrastructure and technology. The work is structured as follows: it’s a journey where we find a net, a square grid made of 90×90 brass plates, which brings to mind the streets, the Hippodamian plan of an orthogonal city – particularly São Paulo, where the work was conceived and presented. It is situated on the top floors of a skyscraper and is surrounded by buildings, so the visual impact is strong – an endless grid that slowly rises. In the lower part, at the bottom, there is an underworld which reminds one a bit of a post-punk city, slightly dystopian, full of jumbled cables, mechanical devices – the light shining as one goes upwards. The light radiates from above and scans the grid as a form of control. We confront the life of a megalopolis, with all its distinctive elements: hyper-connectivity, frenetic movement (all the brass plates are pounded by several machines and move really quickly) until we reach, at the end of the journey, a light that signifies a new birth.
… to be continued … (the conversation between Angelo di Bello and NONE will continue on Thursday)
images: (cover – 1) NONE, ritratto (2-3) None – Toyota, «Sensitive Spheres», 2015 (4-8) NONE, «NO STRATA», Farol Santander, San Paolo. Photo credits Carol Quintanilha.
