My videos are significantly influenced by the short format of the music video, adopting interdisciplinary multimedia techniques, with a 90s aesthetic that combines visual research, electronic music and homemade special effects creation.
Nova Spectrum
JCE European Biennial, 2010.
Nova Spectrum is a video art piece, the first directed by Bignotti. Officially, the video was conceived in 2004 but completed in 2010. At the time, Bignotti did not have access to a high-resolution camera, and as technology was beginning its frantic race toward HD, the video was initially designed on paper through preparatory storyboard studies, the design and creation of props, location scouting for filming, the creation of composite images, and musical composition.
The video employs a language composed of a mix of audiovisual media, influenced by the contrast between aesthetics and anti-aesthetics. Like all subsequent works of video art by Bignotti, Nova Spectrum inaugurates the fast-paced and engaging format typical of music videos.
The theme is that of social control and the cult of the image, topics that will also appear in later works, inaugurating a path of social critique at a time when social networks began to emerge—a phenomenon that would soon influence contemporary culture. Today, society places a particular value on the aesthetic image; “beauty” is seen as a visual stereotype to be utilized and exploited for commercial or professional purposes. The representation of “vulgar beauty” can be interpreted as “power,” but at the same time, it can critique a global society influenced by the imagery of advertising and cinema, which contributed to the rise of social networks and reality shows, creating a stage available to anyone. It’s a world within a world, increasingly resembling the state of Big Brother predicted by George Orwell, exploiting our need to appear and seizing our identities.
This type of conflicting dialogue arises from the need to express the subconscious, describing a surreal world fueled by reality and by how that same reality is perceived—by the author who manipulates it and by the spectator who experiences it from the outside. The theme conveys the artist’s concern about the phenomenon of the internet and the nascent social networks, highlighting a possible fear that future society will place excessive importance on images, creating contrasts between real life and virtual life, emphasizing the fear of a loss of identity and privacy.
The video is significantly influenced by the aesthetics of artists such as Chris Cunningham for the visual aspects and Aphex Twin for the musical elements—artists who have shaped Bignotti’s aesthetic since his youth in the early 1990s. He shares with them themes of the post-human condition as well as aesthetic and media language.
A short film by Cesare Bignotti, work commissioned by JCE – European Biennial 2011. Art Curator: Andrea Ponsini. Nova Spectrum was chosen as the first winner of the 2011/2013 JCE Grand Prize. It includes participation in a three-month residency in Montrouge and a group exhibition at the BeLa Editions Gallery in Brussels—the European Capital.
Directed and edited by Cesare Bignotti
Music by Useless Idea
All Props by Cesare Bignotti
Video Shoot by: Cesare Bignotti — Alessandro Arcidiacono
Actors: Actress — Bianca Tabaton
Polaroid Man — Matteo Marsano, Filippo Castelli, Francesco Cardarelli, Filippo Balestra
Location Manager — Cesare Bignotti, Emilio Pozzolini
Produced by Cesare Bignotti © EVES 2010.
Neonflex
Klaipeda Sala / KKKC – Cultural Communication Center – Lithuania, 2013.
Neonflex is the second video art work by Bignotti, conceived as a sequel to Nova Spectrum, the artist’s first professional video. It not only shares an aesthetic imagery but also clearly reflects a poetic direction linked to the Aphexian audiovisual imagination, characterized by electronic music and the fast-paced, engaging format typical of music videos.
Since the advent of consumer society, people have begun to have more leisure time, and television has emerged as a window to the world. However, it has simultaneously become the eye and voice of Big Brother. Individuals seem to coexist within an increasingly artificial system, akin to intensive farming. The ether nourishes us, “advises” us, but ultimately dictates what to see, hear, how to think, and what to buy. Whereas television was once regarded as an educational medium, today it serves the exact opposite purpose. Under the pretense that people have the right to be entertained, we contribute daily to cultural erosion.
Like many of Bignotti’s works, Neonflex tends to critique societal issues, specifically focusing on the realm of communication, particularly television. As with many of his other projects, the author began working on the concept before the filming commenced. In fact, by 2006, the artist had started collecting abandoned televisions found on the street due to the transition from analog to digital broadcasting, transforming them into self-made special effects. This process of reclaiming material and creatively recycling it would later become a significant element in the artist’s creative process.
A short film by Cesare Bignotti Work commissioned by Klaipeda Sala / KKKC – Klaipeda Cultural Communication Center – Lithuania, Exhibition opening March 1, 2013. Art Curator: Neringa Bumblienė. The video was exhibited at: KKKC – Klaipeda Cultural Communication Center / Lithuania in 2013, Musil Museo del Lavoro / Brescia in 2014, Micheletti Award – Palazzo Martinengo / Brescia in 2015.
Directed and edited by Cesare Bignotti
Music by Useless Idea
All props by Cesare Bignotti – Design assistant for the Polaroid helmet: Mauro Bignotti
Bass instrument by Cabotronium: a digitally controlled analog audio/video generator that operates independently of the performer, created by an Italian team comprising Emilio Pozzolini, Martino Sarolli, and Alessandro Quaranta.
Video Shoot by: Cesare Bignotti — Alessandro Arcidiacono — Roberto Rando
Actor: Cristiano Baricelli / Singer: Davide Colombino / Drummer: Patrick Simonetti / Bassist: Renato Gianni Campanini / Keyboardist: Valerio Visconti
Produced by Cesare Bignotti © EVES 2013 – Production Assistant: Giorgio Barroccu.
V.Deus
V.Deus is a short video art piece commissioned by BeLa Edition Gallery in Brussels in 2012.
The theme of the work is based on a critique of the church and Christianity, which improperly uses symbolic imagery as a weapon.
The context we find ourselves in is a mountain where a large cross naturally stands alongside broadcasting towers. This location perfectly showcases the vertical ascent of the church in a historical context, which was characterized by the erection of Christian buildings or symbols atop every peak, in order to elevate themselves to the heavens, away from material distractions, and closer to God. However, this construction was also a mechanism of instrumentalization aimed at oppressing humanity through symbolic rituals, corrupting individuals from their spiritual neutrality.
More simply, the meaning of the work reveals the vulgar and dark side of the church as an organ of propaganda and social control, creating an interpretative link between the past and the present.
Bignotti’s idea is to demonstrate an increasingly shorter duration of video work, rendering the concept of video format indefinite. The artist is indeed convinced that viewing time in the near future will be reduced to just a few minutes or even seconds, driven by the internet and social networks that must cope with the sharing of thousands of terabytes every day flooding the ether, which Bignotti refers to as digital trash. Furthermore, the short duration creates a direct link between the viewer and the message, minimizing every element to avoid distraction. Bignotti’s multimedia work, as in the case of video art, is increasingly akin to the role of a concept artist involved in film productions, where a subject must be vetted by the production and both the subject and the aesthetics need to be presented in a short amount of time. In fact, the work tends to resemble a teaser, a video snippet used in the advertising industry, often anonymous, aimed at generating curiosity and anticipation for a product that will only be named later, as in the case of a film production.
A short film by Cesare Bignotti.
Work commissioned by BeLa Editions Gallery, in Brussels, the European Capital. Art Curator: Anne-Laure Chamboissier. Published by EVES in 2012.
Directed and edited by Cesare Bignotti.
Music by Dual (Cesare Bignotti, Giorgio Barroccu)
All props by Cesare Bignotti.
Video shoot by: Cesare Bignotti – Alessandro Arcidiacono – Emilio Pozzolini.
Actors: Daniela Doino – Olivia Giovannini.
Produced by Cesare Bignotti – EVES 2012
www.uselessidea.it