SICILIA, VIE DI GIBELLINA

In October 2006, Thierry De Mey went to the old city of Gibellina, Sicily, with the choreographer Manuela Rastaldi. On the site of the city, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1968, Alberto Burri created 'Grande Cretto' in the 1980s, to pay homage to the victims of the disaster. For this monumental work, the artist imagined a vast flow of white cement rushing down the mountainside. Huge trenches were dug following the layout of the streets, allowing visitors to move inside the white labyrinth. Thierry De Mey has asked the choreographer Manuela Rastaldi to present the theatrical framework of a choreography for six dancers in the labyrinth of the deserted streets. The work has been filmed according to a complex branching structure, based on different configurations inspiring decisions to move within the labyrinth. The film is based on a vector release method. Once behind the camera, the directions (left/right) initiated by the spectator lead him in the footsteps of the dancers; as he makes successive choices, he finds himself following them through the labyrinth of streets and alleys.

This work has been digitised in the frame of DCA Project