VideoarT
"The
Ima-gination
of A
Child"
Title: “The Imagination of a Child”
- Year of Production: 2024
- Category: Artistic and Documentary Short Film
- Running Time: 15 minutes
Director and Screenplay: Cesare Catania
Cast:
- Starring: Christine Fernando
- Co-Starring: Cesare Catania
- Yenul Fernando: Brother
- Amith Fernando: Dad
- Peshala Madhumali Naththandige: Mom
- Leonardo Minciotti: Worker
- Roberto Fugazzaro: Worker
The Production
- Production Manager: Anastasiya Vrublevskaya
- Directors of Photography : Cesare Catania and Lorenzo Massa
- Artistic Director: Cesare Catania
- Video Editing: Stefano Bosatelli
Technical Details
- Media: Digital
- Technique: Black and White and Color Final Recording Camera
- Recording Camera: RED Camera
“… conceiving a film as a work of art means creating a series of scenes by letting yourself be carried away by emotions. The filters of conventional language leave room for a more direct means of communication, which enters people’s hearts in a total way. And the more this way of creating is harmonious, the more this means of communication becomes democratic…”
(Cesare Catania)
The Opera in Detail: The Synopsis
Description of the Work “The Imagination of a Child”
The movie, mostly in black and white, completely devoid of dialogue and interspersed with moments of reflection for the viewer in front of the written thoughts of the “narrator”, analyzes the psychological evolution of an artist who develops ideas and beliefs related to the world of art. The story of the film, conceived by the artist and director as a “democratic work of art”, takes place in the present day, in particular in the cities of Milan and Venice (the latter in particular a key city of the film).
It tells the story of two lives, that of an Italian sculptor and that of a little girl, originally from Sri Lanka, who lives with her family in Italy. Both lives of the two protagonists are somehow linked by an unbridled artistic passion, and the entire film revolves around the design of a sculpture (the one actually created by the Italian artist and entitled “The Embrace” F Version, a physical sculpture exhibited at the same time as the production of the film at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale). This design is the main element of the story told, the one that allows the lives of the two protagonists, despite starting from such distant points, to intertwine in the end in a “disruptive encounter between two opposites”.
At the end of the short, in fact, it turns out that in reality the entire film was nothing more than the artist’s dream and that the two protagonists were none other than the same person. The Italian artist therefore identifies himself with the black girl. The Caucasian artist and the black girl are the same person in the film. This choice is singular, mainly linked for the director to overcoming all cultural barriers, in an artistic context of 2024 under the theme “Foreigners Everywhere”, the title of the Venice Art Biennale where the sculpture “The Embrace”, protagonist of the short film, is exhibited throughout 2024 as the official work of art of the national pavilion. Furthermore, the main objective of the film is to describe the psychology of an artist through a dream, a dream in which the same person realizes that he must look at the world from two different points of view: as an adult with the eyes of maturity and as a child with the eyes of fantasy. The true artist, according to the film, is the one who looks at the world around him with the eyes of an adult and with the fantasy of a child; in practice… “a worker of emotions”.
The Embrace F Version - LD - view 6-min
The Embrace F Version - LD - view 4-min
The Embrace F Version - View 1 - MD-min
VIEWING GUIDE
The Key Concepts of the Documentary (part 1)
The “Roundness of Feeling”
This is one of the key concepts that guides the artist in his thinking and philosophy. In fact, the artist often elaborates his emotions into completed works of art when his inspirations become “round”. This is how Cesare Catania likes to define a balanced emotion from whatever angle you look at it, which can be observed from all perspectives with the same intensity and with the same balance.
A “Corner of the Heart”
This is where everything happens for Cesare Catania… “It’s not a question of the head… it’s a question of passions”. An inspiration, immature and unripe, takes shape organically when the artist realizes that he is feeling it fully, both from a cerebral and visceral point of view. But it is the heart that commands it. The intellect defines its contours, the substance is conceived there… “in that corner of the heart”. And when the artist becomes consciously aware of this emotional journey, then he begins to create in a mature way, thus observing the world around him, simultaneously projected towards the future with his own desires and towards the past with his own cultural background. In this part of the short film, the idea of temporal asynchrony that will characterize all the video art works created by the Italian artist begins to come to life.
The Uncertainty of the Creative Process
A topic already widely covered by the artist in the creation of his collection called “Feeling and Emotions” (2022), Cesare Catania once again entrusts the strength of the creative process to the “Shyness” that the artist feels in front of an unfinished work of art. Without the presence of uncertainty, in fact, according to Catania, one cannot speak of artistic creation in the strict sense.
VIEWING GUIDE
The Key Concepts of the Documentary (part 2)
The Harmony of Opposites
The author refers in this case to the artist’s awareness of the fact that he himself is both a child and an adult. Two opposites that, if they learn to coexist, give artistic production a noteworthy maturity and freshness.
The Artist's First Eyes
These are the eyes with which a true artist must observe the world according to Cesare Catania, those of a child (“the first eyes”). The imagination of a child gives the observation point an immediacy of feelings that a conscious and experienced mind can hardly perceive. When the adult understands this truth, he stops hiding behind social patterns and begins to observe according to nature …
A Worker of Emotions
… when the artist then understands that his mission is to shape his own emotions and those of others through his art, together with everything he has expressed so far, he has understood exactly what his role is in the world around him. He thus finds his own balance and maturity.
artistic connections and social implications
The Artistic Short and the Embrace Project
The documentary in question revolves around the physical sculpture entitled “The Embrace” F Version and is part of the Embrace Project, an artistic project of socio-cultural origin, conceived and developed by Cesare Catania himself and which has as its main objective that of supporting art, culture, medicine and all sciences in general through the most incisive means of communication: contemporary art.
Art thus becomes the means to do good, in an ethical way, and through which to convey a simple but strong message: “Let’s go back to hugging each other again”.
The Embrace Project and all its artistic and social declinations have allowed Cesare Catania o be appointed the sole World Ambassador of the International Hugging Day for 2023.
The Embrace F Version - LD - view 5-min
The Embrace F Version - LD - view 7-min
The Embrace F Version - View 2 - MD-min
The Embrace F Version - View 3 - MD-min
The Cultural Background
The physical sculpture entitled “The Embrace” F Version which inspired the artist to produce and direct the film entitled “The Imagination of a Child” derives from the very famous painting Oil on canvas, depicting in the strict sense the embrace between a man and a woman and in the broad sense the embrace between two people of different colors.
cultural evolution of the concept of democratic art
From Art to Art Movement
The artistic short film “The Imagination of a Child” was conceived by the artist and Film Director following the project presented at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale and in conjunction with the First Manifesto of Democratic Art in History.. Below is the evolution of his artistic poetics in relation to the writing of an Artistic Manifesto.
The path that leads the Italian artist to conceive the Manifesto of Democratic Art begins in 2015, when he creates “ReArt“, his first work of art created from urban waste. On this occasion Catania understands the importance that art can have in promoting sustainability.
In 2015 and 2016, Cesare Catania created the first two versions of “L’Abbraccio”, very famous paintings that will give rise to a real collection, as well as to the “Embrace Project“,an artistic and socio-cultural project that enhances the closeness between people. In this case, art goes from being the ultimate goal to which the artist tends to a means to do good in an ethical way.
The path that leads the Italian artist to conceive the Manifesto of Democratic Art continues in 2017, when he creates the first work of art for people affected by Dalton Syndrome (“The Mouth of Etna E Version“). On that occasion he understands that art can be the means through which to overcome cultural barriers and represent minorities.
After 2020, with the advent of NFTs, Catania immediately understands the difference between universal ownership of a work of art and unique ownership. A pioneer of digital art in web3, the Italian artist cultivates his artistic path both in the traditional and digital worlds, to then merge them into a single phygital world with a high social and democratic impact with the project for the Venice Biennale 2024.
This is the cultural and artistic background that led Cesare Catania to write the first Manifesto of Democratic Art.
Cultural insight
The most important "Embraces"
First Painting....
“two people who hug each other always convey the same message: affection, attachment, closeness, and they do it in every culture and in every society”
(Cesare Catania)
... then Sculpture
“The Embrace: a timeless sculpture“. This is how the press and critics define it, a sculpture that denotes a clear geometric and contemporary imprint but at the same time transmits a universal message, valid today and that will remain valid forever.
“An Embrace is worth more than 1000 words…
there are no
cold or warm hugs, there are no real or fake hugs, there are no hugs of
war or peace…. The hug is universal. When two people hug,
in whatever culture they do it, they want to express only one thing: love.
Regardless of their age, the color of their skin and their cultural differences.”
(Cesare Catania)
2023 One World Ambassador for International Hug Day
Cesare Catania – appointed for 2023 the only Ambassador in the world of the International Hug Day (celebrated on January 21st since 1986, the year of its creation) – is convinced that art can be the means through which to do good. No longer art as the ultimate goal to which the artist tends but rather the means for a project that acts as a social glue, breaking down the barriers of discrimination in general.
Art as a means to do good in an ethical way
“The Embrace Project is an artistic project with a socio-cultural matrix that aims to do good through art. Therefore, art is no longer the ultimate goal towards which an artist’s work tends, but rather it is a means to reach a higher ultimate goal, which is precisely to do good in an ethical manner”
(Cesare Catania – Rai interview excerpt)
cultural deepening
How does the Venice Biennale project influence the artistic short?
The artistic short film “The Imagination of a Child” was conceived by the artist and Film Director following the project presented at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale and in conjunction with the First Manifesto of Democratic Art in History.
The project presented at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale is part of a broader context of art conceived by Cesare Catania as a vehicle of democracy. The man not only approaches the concept of equality supported by the work “The Embrace” but does so by playing with the work itself. In fact, thanks to a configuration software, each of us can sculpt our own embrace in digital version
The idea of ”playing” with art brings it closer to those who observe it and expresses itself for Cesare Catania thanks to the help of Augmented Reality. This in fact transforms physical sculpture into Phygital sculpture and allows each of us to come into contact with sculpture in a completely new way.
“Experiencing a work of art in Augmented Reality allows the artist to merge static contemporary art and kinetic art, where the latter no longer requires all the limitations given by the physical world. In this way, kinetic art is no longer the point of arrival of artistic production but becomes the starting point on which to base a project that first of all wants to be emotional…”
(Cesare Catania)
The artistic short film “The Imagination of a Child” therefore emphasizes the concepts of equality and democracy so loved by the artist, in a work that sees him identify with the fantasy and imagination of a black child. All in a context strongly connected to art and the city of Venice.
The Venice Biennale Project in Detail
“Contemporary art must not only be aimed at mere aesthetic satisfaction but must also be a means of communication, of bringing people together. Playing with art makes the process of approaching art more natural. Digital art and kinetic art increase the perception of reality and therefore become the most natural way to experience art rather than passively undergo it.”
(Cesare Catania)
Press Review on the Artwork "The Embrace" at the Venice Biennale
Below are some of the most important articles and media reviews on Cesare Catania’s presence at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale. Opinions, interviews and insights.
New York Weekly - July 03, 2024
Democratic Art, Venice Biennale, Artificial Intelligence, and more in Cesare Catania’s interview with NY Weekly
Film Daily - June 28, 2024
Democratic Art, Venice Biennale, Artificial Intelligence, and much more in Cesare Catania’s interview with Film Daily
Rainews24 - April 17, 2024
Democratic Art, Venice Biennale, Artificial Intelligence, and much more in Cesare Catania’s interview on Rainews24 on April 17, 2024
Rainews.it - June, 2024
“What does Phygital Art exactly mean?”
RTL102.5
Democratic Art, Venice Biennale, Artificial Intelligence, and much more in Cesare Catania’s interview on RTL 102.5 on April 17, 2024
Rainews24 - April 20, 2024
Democratic Art, Venice Biennale, Artificial Intelligence in-depth analysis of the digital sculpture software developed by Cesare Catania also thanks to artificial intelligence. Interview first aired on April 20, 2024
Artuu Magazine
Cesare Catania among the most anticipated Italians at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale
Il Messaggero - Revenews Art
Cesare Catania among the most anticipated Italians at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale
Hello! Turkiye Magazine
Cesare Catania among the most anticipated Italians at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale
Press Insights
Press review on the'
Embrace project
Art against Discrimination
“… discriminations obscure. They are preconceptions, often wrong, with which a human being has a preconception in reference to another human being or to an idea…” (Cesare Catania – extract from Rai interview)
The Embrace Project in Times Square
Art as a means of Democracy
“… Art is the means through which the artist spreads a message of equality…” (Cesare Catania – Rai interview extract)
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