Statement
D(z)iga is one continuous extreme wide shot of the Contra Dam, the second largest dam in Switzerland located on the Verzasca River in Ticino. It became a popular location after a James Bond stuntman jumped off it in the opening scene of the 1995 film GoldenEye. The title is a play on the word “diga” which means dam in Italian and a salute to the Russian documentary filmmaker and cinema theorist Dziga Vertov.

If the viewer remains attentive to the image, at a certain point a bungee jumper is seen falling through the frame. As time passes the figure reappears suspended in mid-air and is lifted in and out of the frame. Through framing, I allowed for time and an action to unfold. What was revealed is a symbolic figure where the convergence of natural and built environments bind a body’s placement within them. The figure is disorientated, falling and then pulled against the immense backdrop of a structure that enforces our will over nature, which is now being re-used as a source of accepted entertainment.


Exhibitions
Sway: 2013 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition; Ferrari, Somers & Harris-Trevor, Logan Center for the Arts Gallery & Screening Room, The University of Chicago, IL, USA, May 18–26, 2013 (group exhibit). https://marcogferrari.com/exhibition/sway-2013-mfa-thesis-exhibition-ferrari-somers-trevor/ | installation: https://marcogferrari.com/work/dziga-installation-i/

Nacelle: a video art exhibition by Marco G. Ferrari, Blanc Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, USA, February 28-May 1, 2015 (solo exhibit). https://marcogferrari.com/exhibition/nacelle-a-video-art-exhibition-by-marco-g-ferrari/ | installation: https://marcogferrari.com/work/dziga-installation-ii/

– L’alterità e il paesaggio: i film sperimentali di Marco G. Ferrari, Nuovo Cinema Aquila, Rome, Italy, May 30, 2017 (solo exhibit). Exhibited Ferragosto, 2012–13; Velodrome, 2012; D(z)iga, 2012–13; Resti, 2014; Skyway, 2013; Spirit Level, 2016–17; Spazio comune (work in progress), 2017. https://marcogferrari.com/exhibition/lalterita-e-il-paesaggio-i-film-sperimentali-di-marco-g-ferrari/

Stanza––ci sono cieli dappertutto, Narni (TR), Italy, April 22, 2017, group exhibit. Gallery screening with presentation by Prof. Brunella Antomarini (John Cabot University). Screened “Velodrome”, 2012; “D(z)iga”, 2012; “Parabola”, 2012; “Ferragosto”, 2013; and “Spirit Level”, 2017. In conjunction with the closing of the exhibit “La Casa e le Stagioni – Casa Ghirri” and the beginning of a new group exhibition project titled “Lessness”.