Collins Family Cookery

Last week I was involved by RoCo in a very inspiring project that will be displayed in Milan from the 17th to the 21st of April during the Design Week.

RoCo is a new concept of art and design gallery created by Italian curators Elena Comincioli and Annalisa Rosso.

“There is not a fixed space but in each edition, a place is chosen and a writer is asked to prepare a story connected to this space.The story is sent to designers, photographers, artists and architects. The request is to participate, each in their own way, to the realization of this structured set, where a space, a piece of music and a story is already moving. With an object, an installation, a work that contributes to deepen the story, like an extra detail to the narrative.”

More information about their project can be found here: http://ro-co.org/

The short story, by Daniele Belleri, describes the struggle and the love of two men looking for a way to settle in a difficult and empty urban landscape: they analyze their story through the abandoned space where it all started and through their memories about that place.

Collins Family Cookery, work in progress

I used a found cookery book from the late ’60s, to symbolize the idealization of a family life, based on everyday gestures, comfort and intimacy. Food stains and oil drops on the white cover and in the pages bear witness to the story of this object that must have been used in the kitchen of many houses.

My scalpel carved the paper page after page to create a surreal and suspended landscape, a system of steep sided depressions connected by underground tunnels; two white figures are sitting on the edges of this scenery, as if they were waiting for some sign, or if they were just checking for everything to be fine.

My book communicates the waiting, the sweetness, the tireness, and the beauty of the world where the passion of the two character takes place.