A measure of distance

A measure of distance by Daniele Di Girolamo unfolds in two evolving environments divided into the levels of Supernova, exploring relational dynamics according to a dual awareness: relating to the other and listening to the inner flows of one's own knowledge. These are the chords that Daniele intends to touch. On the ground floor, the exhibition presents the installation of three pairs of thistles dancing in space, drawing orbits through the unraveling of brass tubes. Electrical wires run inside the artificial stems that, like plant sap, allow the hermaphrodite flower to rotate on itself and seek possible contact. By observing the behavior of a plant placed inside a dark environment with only one source of light, we will notice how it will find its way to the light source. Similar to phototropism, thistle caulis find a meeting place at the end of their spatial explorations, where reaching for light is replaced by the necessary act of meeting. The rotations show us the mutability of relationships, which can sometimes result in not finding each other while at others they express the contingencies of coming together in embrace and inevitable release. The warm breath and pulse of rapprochement are recalled by the rubbing of sharp thorns and interrupted by the frustration of their ignoring each other. The whole relational process made up of approaches, rejections and wrong circumstances, as Daniel himself describes, manifests as "sweet, violent, funny, romantic, melancholic, erotic and raw." In the moment of maximum tension, the perception of a bond is as possible as that of a contrast. The path of the stems concretizes the past prior to the encounter, the result of a motion with defined structures. At this moment, the encounter takes its course and speaks of the present: the bodily sensations and emotional resonances of each individual act on his or her own passionate state. One enters into a more introverted and intimate reflection, which reaches the peak of intensity with the lower floor installation. In the underground space, three sculptures worked with a plastic material that recall the shape of crumpled cylinders are shown. Inside them is sea sand that, subjected to a rotating motion, recreates the sound of the undertow. From the natural element, taken from its context of origin, a sound memory is extracted that continues to remind us of the place from which it came. In this dimension, the relationship with the other fades into a more individual and direct relationship with oneself. Time slows down, listening increases: one leaves the mind free to descend into the depths and take the measure of the distance that unites or separates oneself from others.