The first exhibition marks the opening of the project room with an exhibition by artists Allora & Calzadilla,
that the curators have linked with the theme of the first book of Pliny’s Naturalis Historia, Astronomy
and Meteorology. The artists present the acclaimed video, The Great Silence, for wich they collaborated with the
science fiction writer Ted Chaing who produced the story, that appears as subtitles, in the form of a tale by a parrot (of
the endangered species, Amazona vittata) living in the Puerto Rican forest Rio Abajo, sharing its habitat with Arecibo, the
world’s largest single-dish radio telescope. Whilst Arecibo transmits and captures radio waves to and from deepest space,
the images of the film flow with the parrot’s comments on the search of forms of extra terrestrial intelligence, and it uses
the metaphor of vocal learning - common both to parrots and to man - as an element to question the sound produced
by the vibrations picked up by the radio telescope, that astronomers call “cosmic microwave background”. The text by
Ted Chaing was published in 2016 in two anthologies: Best American Science Fictions and Best American Short Stories.
The audience of the work in Palermo will find a surprising connection whilst walking around the botanical gardens,
inhabited by a large number of parrots that escaped captivity and have found here a favourable climate and shelter amongst
the hollow tree trunks that have facilitated their reproduction. These parrots belong primarily to two non-native species,
originating from Africa and Asia: the “ringneck parakeet” and the “rosy-faced lovebird”. A migration of birds which
references that of the different species of plants living in the botanical gardens, the source of inspiration for Manifesta 12’s
theme and the idea of “planetarium garden”, aiming to explore “its capacity to aggregate difference and to compose life
out of movement and migration”, as stated in the biennial concept. On show also, Deadline (2007), a video presented on
monitor within the library space, created by Allora & Calzadilla for Parkett n.80, the prestigious art magazine who have
donated to Radiceterna the 63 available volumes from their collection.
Biography (Jennifer Allora, 1974, Philadelphia, USA. Guillermo Calzadilla, 1971, Havana, Cuba. Working together since
1995 and living in San Juan, Puerto Rico).
During the past twenty years, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla have developed an expansive and experimental
body of work, using sculpture, performance, video, sound, and photography in different combinations, in order to evoke
contemporary geopolitics, cultural artefacts, and the ‘deep time’ of archaeological history. They give meaning to their artistic
research by delving and questioning the structural and narrative conventions of storytelling and the potential of language
and materiality. Allora & Calzadilla have studied the cooperative and catalytic nature of impromptu collective drawing
with ephemeral materials at the Lima biennial in Peru (Chalk [Lima], 1998–2002); the imprints of colonial, nationalist,
and military violence on the diverse populations and landscapes of Vieques, Puerto Rico (Landmark, 2001–2002); and the
resonance of playing, warping, and combining music from various moments in history (Clamor, 2006; Stop, Repair, Prepare:
Variations on “Ode to Joy” for a Prepared Piano, 2008; and Raptor’s Rapture, 2012). Their projects challenge viewers to build
meaning through a literal, metaphorical, evidential, and political reading of the work; but also to participate in it as an
experience that heightens aesthetic sensibility. Allora & Calzadilla represented the USA in the 54th Venice Biennial (2011)
and their artworks can be found in museum collections all over the world, amongst these, the Museum of Modern Art in
New York, the Tate Modern in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Castello di Rivoli in Turin.
The project is part of the official collateral events of Manifesta 12 and is included within the activities of Palermo Capitale
della Cultura 2018. Radiceterna wishes to thank the artists Allora & Calzadilla, kurimanzutto gallery and
the MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome. A special thanks to all the publishing companies
who have generously donated their books and all those who made this project possible.