Riccardo Benassi joins the RETROFUTURE section, the collection of works by young Italian artists growing organically with time.

The work entering the collection is Dancefloorensick, 2021, which the artist explains here: “Dancefloorensick is a word I have created by blending three terms: Dancefloor + Forensic + Sick. I often make use of neologisms – invented words – because they enable me to make an idea land on reality, letting it emerge from my mind to meet other people. Dancefloorensick is a series of video essays divided into six chapters, which when watched one after the other form a single flow, playing like a mixtape. A collection of notes that strive for poetry, knowing it cannot be reached: they have joined hands for a moment, and then they have challenged the linear arrangement, forming a circle and – perhaps – interrupting the buzz. The buzz of speakers, powered and ready, which nevertheless still broadcast no sound. A buzz of conflicting ideas I delude myself into thinking I can encode. The buzz of the Big Data that an army of AI devices is trying to sort out, between noise and information. The buzz of a standardized online language, symptom of identity crisis and manoeuvred conformity. The buzz of the cicadas that were here well before we arrived. The buzz of life support machines in intensive care, replacing the tick-tock of the wall clock. The buzz of the drones we are already learning to shoot down with slingshots. Then, finally, comes music, which is often––even with hindsight––a friendly voice”.

RICCARDO BENASSI (Cremona, 1982) lives and works in Berlin, Cremona and online. He is a poet, writer and media artist questioning the limit of technology from an existential perspective, playing with language through time-based installation, video-essays and architectural interventions for both public commission and indoor exhibitions. Most recently, his work has been shown at Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Genève (2021); MoCA Taipei, Taiwan (2021); Museion, Bolzano (2020); ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe (solo show) (2020); Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève (solo show) (2019); Fondazione ICA, Milano (2019); Galleria ZERO…, Milano (2019); Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (solo show) (2016).