Arcanum
“Arcanum is an audiovisual code resulting from the symbols used for divinatory readings of the "arcana. Created on orchestral scores, the code magnifies the rich details of historical tarot cards, simplifying and amplifying them, presenting twenty-two images "constructed" on a staff line and an equal number of three-note chords that can be listened to online in succession. Continuing the work on alphabets and numbers, I investigated the arcane code of tarot cards, transforming visual details into augmented supporting structures, scaled up to fill the entire space of the staff and sometimes becoming Escher-like figures. For the composition, I drew inspiration not only from the divinatory art of tarot cards but also from Aleksandr Nikolaevich Skryabin with his mystical chord: a succession of notes conceived by the Russian composer and pianist as both a harmonic foundation and a key to interpreting the "Divine" in the symphonic poem Prometheus. By sampling the wind, the quintessential invisible element, I synthesized a digital instrument resembling an organ with which I performed the sound track.” (Alessio de Girolamo)
Arcanum is curated by Daniele Perra
Text by Federico Pazzagli for Exibart magazine.