Davide Balliano

In Residence:
March 15, 2011 - March 19, 2011
Discipline:
Performance, Theatre
Country:
Italy

Davide Balliano was born in Turin, Italy in 1983. In this city he began his studies and earned a Bachelor in Graphic Arts. In 2002 he moved to Milan where he earned a second degree in Photography at the c.f.p Riccardo Bauer, and worked as artist.

From June 2004 to June 2005, Balliano was a resident in Fabrica, artist’s residence of Benetton group. Through an unemotional and minimal use of different media (performance, drawing, installation, video and photography),his artistic research allows him to delve deeply into the most hidden aspects of the human mind, revealing their fragile structures and contradictions.

Balliano’s works and performances were shown at Location One, The Artists Space and PS1 Contemporary Art Center in New York, The Watermill Center in Southampton, Plymouth Art Center in Great Britain, as well as in New Zeland, Japan and all across Europe. His portfolio has been recently exhibited in the Archive of Via Farini in the context of the event “NO SOULS FOR SALE” at the Tate Modern Gallery in London. He’s one of the winners of the AOL 25 for 25 Award 2010. Balliano lives and works in New York.

 

Davide Balliano will use his time spent at the Watermill Center to finalize the second part of a project divided in five different acts, based on the structure and phases of a night of sleep. A night of sleep is advisably seven hours long and divided in 5 phases, which repeat themselves approximately three times. Passing through these phases, our mind fades out from reality, entering unknown regions for unknown purposes. Science doesn’t have a proven explanation for the objective goals of sleep. The definition of sleep is peculiar and similar to the those of the coma, hibernation, and even death, with the only difference that it is painlessly reversible. We know that is is essential to recharge our immune system, to grow muscle and bones, and we suppose that during this time the brain archives information acquired during the day. Surprisingly, few nights of not sleeping are enough to cause permanent brain damage and even death.

Each act will be inspired by the characteristics of one specific phase. Completing the five parts, the entire project will symbolize a night of sleep. Each part will be a completely autonomous work, with a specific center and radically separated from the other four. At Watermill, Balliano will work to develop the first act, focused on the first stage of sleep. The research will lead to a 21-hour (7 hours, repeated three times) live performance.

 

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