NIGHT TALK OF THE FORBIDDEN CITY

Alterazioni video NIGHT TALK OF THE FORBIDDEN CITY china, 2007 exhibited: Night talk of the forbidden city #2 , Fabio Paris Art Gallery, Brescia, Italy,2007 Night talk of the forbidden city, DDM Warehouse Gallery, Shanghai, China, 2007 link to related works: QR code series forbidden words series forbidden bags Matrix During their time in China, Alterazioni Video explored the topic of language, and the possible outcomes of the agreements between multinational communications companies and the state censorship system. The various "cells" of Alterazioni Video networked on a local basis using an anonymizer (a tool which guarantees anonymity while surfing), which enabled them to draw up a list of words and phrases prohibited on the main search engines and instant messenger programmes in use in China, with the aim of working out the semantic basis behind these filters. Alterazioni Video then put these terms back "into circulation", by printing the offending phrases on plastic bags, in English and Chinese, and handing them out free of charge on the streets of Shanghai, with the intention of restoring their full communicative potential. The exhibition includes a number of photos depicting this part of the project. The encounter between Alterazioni Video and Alighiero Boetti's work on linguistic codes and signs stimulated a more intellectually sophisticated project, "encrypting" its message on a literal and metaphoric level. Based on the idea that censorship has always driven linguistic evolution, Alterazioni Video utilized Boetti's work as a medium, a coding system which the art world was already familiar with, and which could therefore be used to convey this new message. The result is Matrice, ideograms etched onto printing stones which can be assembled in a grid, forming endlessly reproducing matrixes, and QR code series, multi-colored combinations of symbols embroidered on canvas.