Exhibition
Imaginary Landscapes
Naples
Sound designer: Bruno Quast / winner SISS call [category D]
Voice: Anna Luigia Autiero
Director: unknown
Nationality: Italian / French / German
Year of production: Film: 1927 – Sound: 2026
Type of Artwork: A/V_Installation
Duration:19’10”
‘Naples’ is a French documentary presumably from 1927, of which no information is known beyond what is stored on the film. It shows a series of shots of Naples at the time, modern districts and the poorer neighbourhoods, sulphur mines, rowing boats on the sea and the smoking Vesuvius, including a wedding, possibly between Prince Amedeo d’Aosta and Anna d’Orleans.
Using archival and other more modern, modified sound recordings, the project attempts to reconstruct some of the soundscapes heard in the locations where the film was shot, while respecting also the synaesthesia with the grain of a 20s film. This combines with sections of more modern sound design and with prose and poetry from those years by authors such as Matilde Serao and Walter Benjamin, and popular songs, interpreted or sung by the Neapolitan actress Anna Luigia Autiero, now resident in Bologna.
00’18’’: ‘O vico – Theatrical text by Raffaele Viviani, 1917
01’00’’: Anche la più misera delle esistenze … – Excerpt from Napoli Porosa, Walter Benjamin, 1924
02’42’’: Nulla di più pittoresco che la strada di Santa Lucia – Excerpt from Il Ventre di Napoli, Matilde Serao, 1884
04’35’’: Se io leggo giornali … – Excerpt from Il Ventre di Napoli, Matilde Serao, 1884
06’17’’: Le mercedi sono scarsissime – Excerpt from Il Ventre di Napoli, Matilde Serao, 1884
07’00’’: E il sacro si mescola al profano – Excerpt from Il Ventre di Napoli, Matilde Serao, 1884
08’56’’: Questo ho ripensato, con meraviglia … – Excerpt from Il Ventre di Napoli, Matilde Serao, 1884
10’46’’: Anche la più povera casa … – Excerpt from Napoli Porosa, Walter Benjamin, 1924
11’17’’: La casa non è tanto il rifugio … – Excerpt from Napoli Porosa, Walter Benjamin, 1924
11’31’’: L’architettura è porosa come questa pietra – Excerpt from Napoli Porosa, Walter Benjamin, 1924
11’59’’: La porosità non si incontra soltanto … – Excerpt from Napoli Porosa, Walter Benjamin, 1924
12’46’’: Le pettinatrici del popolo … – Excerpt from Il Ventre di Napoli, Matilde Serao, 1884
13’55’’: Fenesta oscura, oscura, nera, nera – Poem by Roberto Bracco, 1910
15’55’’: Il grande mercato di Monteoliveto – Excerpt from Il Ventre di Napoli, Matilde Serao, 1884
17’04’’: Avite visto mai nu piccerillo – Poem by Ferdinando Russo, 1910
18’08’’: Canzone appassiunata – Song by E. A. Mario, 1922
Note
Several texts have been edited to better follow the montage of the silent film, while preserving as much as possible the original meaning intended by the author.
The text recited from 02’32” to 04’14”, taken from Il Ventre di Napoli by Matilde Serao, published in 1884, describes the Santa Lucia district as it was at that time.
The images, presumably filmed around 1927, instead show it after several reconstruction works carried out at the end of the 19th century.
in collaboration with
Artist bio
Driven by soundscapes and books, works as teacher of sound design for animation in Estonia and has made experimental 3D animation and drawings in the past. A field recording inspired artistic book and audiovisual compositions are his current PhD research, which is interested in such forms of expression, along surreal storytelling and playfulness. Bruno Quast was first taught contemporary art and piano, raised in Italy and born in Germany. He is currently enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples (Abana) as AFAM PhD student.