The invitation was specific: to imagine something that would work for children but would not be exclusively for children, but rather something of which the simplicity could also be meaningful for an adult audience. My proposal started out from the simplest and most playful action that came to mind. In fact, ever since I can remember, whenever I have a sheet of paper in my hands and cannot draw or write on it, I cannot stop myself. I tear up the sheet of paper, and based on the first tear or irregular line, I imagine a shape – be it animal, vegetable or hybrids with all their variations, or all-encompassing fantastical beings – and continue tearing and modelling shapes, often involving other people and different audiences. The result is figures with irregular, stylised profiles and incorrect proportions that are always different, depending on the type of paper, the dexterity of the hands and the nature of the imagination.
As has often happened in my practice, Anìmule has turned into a protean project, among other things, combining workshop activities and where, ultimately, the shadows of the silhouettes come to life following a story that is almost never the same, cast onto various surfaces. I have projected them onto screens, onto a frescoed wall, the ceiling of a suburban classroom, the hull of a ship, an erratic boulder, tree trunks and branches in a high-altitude forest. Or they have gone to inhabit a totally fictional world, an immersive virtual reality video that can only be viewed through special lenses.
