Enrico Pitozzi
Digicult
2 October 2009

Among the main figures of contemporary experimentation, Roberto Paci Dalò is a director, multimedia artist and composer/performer. He is director and creator of the Giardini Pensili group. His research develops within an area that goes from the development of radio interventions to sound installations; from the development of plays to the building of virtual stages like the Itaca project commissioned by the Teatro di Roma and directed by Mario Martone (1999-2000), passing through the development of the film that, as in the case of Petròleo México (2004) was presented at the Locarno International film festival.

Through his interest in the contamination of languages, Paci Dalò put the intersection between different disciplinary territories at the centre of his artistic attention, which vary from the organisation of telecommunication systems applied to artistic processes to the semantic-dramatic redefinition of new technologies applied to the mise-en-scène.

Many of his works have become radio pieces, interactive sound/video installations and online projects. In 1993 he won the Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD Prize. A pioneer in the use of the internet and the integration of analogical and digital technologies, he created and presented his own works, commissioned by radio and TV companies, museums and festivals especially in Italy, Austria, Germany and Canada. He lived in Rome, Berlin and Naples with long residences in Vancouver. Paci Dalò created on-line projects where a distributed interactivity is of great importance.

From the point of view of aesthetical categories, Paci Dalò’s work is marked by a penetration into territories that deal with the discussion of sight and sound perception, working on the border of subliminal processes that find a direct compatibility in the organisation of visual and auditory architecture that tend to immerge the spectator into the work. In other words, it is a work that develops into an organic and compositional dimension, where the subliminal component of artistic communication gives consistency to the works and flows into the spectators’ perception like an underground current. This dimension manifests itself in the folds of sound and image that Dalò designs like a meaningful constellation, letting a tension emerge between an evident and tangible dimension – the dimension of the visible scene – and an intangible and underground one that make it possible.

Paci Dalò has also taught at the University of Siena and collaborates with different Universities in Europe and Canada. He’s a member of the Internationale Heiner Müller Gesellschaft in Berlin and artistic director of Velvet Factory – space for arts (Rimini, Italy). Between the most recent works there is Italia anno zero (2004), created with Olga Neuwirth (Wien Modern, MaerzMusik Berlin and others), Kol Beck Living Strings (WDR Colonia). He created the label L’Arte dell’Ascolto in 2004. Within his most recent productions is Animalie (2002), a scenic commentary of L’aperto by Giorgio Agamben, Stelle della sera (2005) created from texts by Gabriele Frasca, Organo Magico Organo Laico (2006) created for REC – Festival di Reggio Emilia, Cenere (2006) at the Teatro di Monfalcone, L’assedio delle ceneri (2008) for the Napoli Teatro Festival, Roter Schnee (2009) live set / performance at the Uovo Festival – O’ Milano, Atlas of Emotion Stream (2009) sound/video installation commissioned PAN Palazzo delle Arti di Napoli and inspired by the book Atlante delle emozioni by Giuliana Bruno.

In view of the recent addition of Roberto Paci Dalò in the multimedia agency Digimade (with two titles, the version of the video Roter Schnee and the most recent Magnetica), this interview wants to be a presentation and reflection of the work of one of the most interesting contemporary audiovisual “composers”. But it isn’t really an interview, it’s more like a constant and deep discussion between interviewer and interviewee, question after answer, a stream of intellectual consciousness that touches many aspects of the vast productions by Roberto Paci Dalò. In this conversation he is revealed in all his artistic and cultural profundity and preparation..