01 - 30 Jan 2021

online

Luca Bidoli: Anarchy in the UK

Luca Bidoli
Untitled
single-channel video
2011

Credits:
film and editing: Giordano Rizzardi
soprano: Lara Matteini
location: Carlo Uccelli

invited by Carolina Lio

online, screening

It's a troubled period for the UK. Brexit is coming into force from Jan 1, and we are leaving the EU with a rushed last-hour agreement far from being crystal clear. In the meantime, we are hit by a supposedly more dangerous mutation of the pandemic, and most countries have banned travel to and from the UK. We are therefore dedicating to Britain this video by Luca Bidoli, a somewhat dated work (2011) that yet offers a perfect commentary to the current situation.

Online up until January 31, 2021

It's a troubled period for the UK. Brexit is coming into force from Jan 1, and we are leaving the EU with a rushed last-hour agreement far from being crystal clear. In the meantime, we are hit by a supposedly more dangerous mutation of the pandemic, and most countries have banned travel to and from the UK. We are therefore dedicating to Britain this video by Luca Bidoli, a somewhat dated work (2011) that yet offers a perfect commentary to the current situation.

'Untitled' is an unusual version of the (in)famous song Anarchy in the UK by the Sex Pistols, that in the '70s was considered particularly controversial, to the point of getting banned, for the use of words like 'anarchy' and 'antichrist', but also for referencing to conflicts that were happening at that time, such as the Angola Civil War and the paramilitary armies IRA and UDA in the conflict in Northern Ireland; a conflict that today's Brexit ambiguity might potentially unearth.

In this version, the song is re-interpreted by lyric singer Lara Matteini, whose voice and gestures draw from classical opera. This even more poignant reading of the song highlights the incongruity of our times, the failed attempt for control, and the political dissonance that is isolating the UK from the rest of the world.

The work is though also an attempt to reconcile the opposites and to present a scenario in which conservative and progressive elements merge together. Most of Bidoli's recent work does indeed create an ambiguous area where to re-consider and distance ourselves from the binary concept of black and white, good and evil, getting past the dogma and stepping into a more blended vision of reality.