Storia di un albero (Story of a Tree)

Critique sheet

Through the sophisticated use of audiovisual technologies, the Flatform collective carries out a reflection on the landscape and natural phenomena, often located in peripheral or marginal territories, themes that are as topical and urgent as ever today. At the Museo Organica Flatform presents “Storia di un Albero” (History of a Tree), a video portrait of a non-human living organism, thinking but not conscious, unitary but multiple, and of the territory it inhabits.

The tree at the centre of the work is an oak tree born around 900 years ago – also known as the ‘Oak of the Hundred Horsemen’ – and the place is the area of the town of Tricase in Apulia. Through moving images and spatialised sounds, the plant organism becomes a perennial witness of the development of a place, of the stories that have passed through it over almost a thousand years, and of the cultures and languages that have succeeded one another and still coexist today. Subtitled in English, the film features dialogues in Arbaresh, Romanès, Griku, Byzantine Greek, Hebrew, Yiddish, Turkish, Spanish, French and Salentino. All the music, previously unreleased, was specially recorded for the film.

Flatform’s works are characterised by an extremely sophisticated aesthetic, the result of rigorous attention to each component of audiovisual language: light, sound, image and movement. The technical precision and compositional balance are the result of a profound awareness of expressive means and an accurate post-production process, which gives each work a strong formal coherence. Inserted in a line of research that crosses experimental cinema and contemporary art practices, the collective’s production has been received at the most prestigious international festivals and major museum institutions worldwide. Curated by Giannella Demuro and Marco Senaldi.

Biography

Flatform is a collective artist born in 2006 and based in Milan (I) and Berlin (D), whose work lies somewhere between experimental cinema and contemporary art. Over the years, it has exhibited its work in prestigious museum institutions and international festivals. Major recent exhibitions include retrospectives at the Fondazione Prada (Milan, 2023), Jeu de Paume (Paris, 2023), MART (Rovereto, 2023), GAMeC (Bergamo, 2022), MSU Museum of Contemporary Art (Zagreb, 2013) and EYE Filmmuseum (Amsterdam, 2018). The collective has also been invited by institutions such as the PAC in Milan, the MACRO in Rome, the ARGOS Centre for Audiovisual Arts in Brussels, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. Their works have been hosted by the most important film festivals: the Cannes Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Viennale, the BFI London Film Festival and the New Zealand International Film Festival. Awards include prizes and nominations at Go Short – European Short Film Festival, Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival and Tiger Awards for Short Films.

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