Dialogue on anger
collettivoSERRA on Dispositivo di Memoria a Rumore Residuo by Giuseppe Bergamino
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«Dear Mother, Dear Brother, Dear Sister, I am dying for a world which glows with such light, such beauty, that my very sacrifice is nothing.» The words of Anton Popov, a 26-year-old Bulgarian teacher and publicist, written to his loved ones before his execution, open “Il Canto Sospeso”, one of the most powerful works by Luigi Nono.*
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The Venetian composer and writer gathers the final words of those from the European anti-Nazi Resistance that were condemned to death, and transforms them into a sonic dramaturgy that does not merely evoke memory but dilates it, fractures it. The words are not simply sung: they are stretched, unraveled, disintegrated, to the point of almost losing their literal meaning. And yet, their force remains intact. It ignites.
In a similar manner, Giuseppe Bergamino’s Residual Noise Memory Device gathers the cries of the audience and transforms them into light: just as letters become music, rage becomes the living matter of the work. The individual gesture abandons its singularity to enter a shared memory, where the sum of voices becomes more than the sum of its parts. The residual noise of each scream contributes to the creation of a luminous archive in constant transformation, as though each cry binds itself to the others through a process of mutual intensification, dissolving into the unity of a collective composition.
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Rage, therefore, is not left alone but welcomed into a safe space in which to exist. The experience of the work converts the scream — the most natural and universal expression of dissent and claim — from a stigmatized impulse into a creative force. For Bergamino, rage is not to be repressed, but recognized as a shifting emotion capable of sparking constructive change. In this work, there is no intentional direction, nor the predictability of a fixed end. The device is an open system, free of technical or conceptual barriers, allowing anyone to engage with it, aware of their own impact. And if someone chooses to scream, the work will have fulfilled its purpose. An exercise in simplicity and immediacy, where interaction becomes the beating heart of the work, a language that unfolds between the individual and the collective.
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Thus, Bergamino writes: “Rage is not violence to be repressed; it is an authentic response. It is a scream that transforms into awareness and change, necessary to illuminate new possibilities.”
*Listen HERE