First day at Casilino 23

September, 2013

Stupendous Miserable City

During my research into the work of the Italian architect an urban planner Ludovico Quaroni for my short film The Mother, the Son and the Architect, I came across the name of Pier Paolo Pasolini strikingly often. This maybe had something to do with the fact that on my first date with Emilio Quaroni, the son of the architect and a former lover of mine, we went to see a film about the murder of this famous Italian writer and filmmaker. A Delito Italiano by director Marco Tullio Giordana, was a combination of fiction and documentary, and had no subtitles, so Emilio whispered in my ear what happened. This occasion probably tinted my view during the course of my research, when I found numerous links between the work of Quaroni and Pasolini. The slums in the neighbourhood of the Via Casilina in Rome for example formed the backdrop for Pasolini’s first film Accattone. In the early sixties these slums had to make way for a new social housing project designed by Ludovico Quaroni.

In the Fall of 2013, during my residency at the American Academy, I went to this modern housing project named Casilino23and I discovered next to the ‘new’ apartment blocks a big rural area with ruins of a farmhouse on it and large fields with flowers and butterflies. The contrast between these two areas, the contradictions in the life of Pier Paolo Pasolini and my own feelings of restlessness, inspired me to make a new film. 
Together with the writer Anton Dautzenberg I am now working on the voice-over for the film. On the 2nd of November 2015 it will be exactly 40 years ago that Pasolini was murdered, hopefully the film will be ready then.

The 'Salone' at the American Academy

Books from the Library at the AAR

Residency American Academy in Rome

In the fall of 2013 I was an artist in residence at the American Academy in Rome. I applied for this residency at the Mondriaan Fund and I was very happy I received this grant. I got a beautiful studio with an amazing view over Rome. There were like 30 other American Prix de Rome winners in all kinds of fields. Every day we had a lovely lunch and dinner together. The staff organized very interested walks and talks. There was a 'salone' and a beautiful bar inside and we had access to the incredible library the whole day and night. It was great.