Support:
ORMS Printroom & Framing
Consol Ltd
Italian Ministry of Culture
Italian Cultural Institute in South Africa
Special thanks:
Jason Ormrod
Mike Ormrod
My Hart Is So Leeg Soos 'n Spieël (My Heart is a Void, the Void is a Mirror) is an ongoing project by Gian Maria Tosatti that explores the dissolution of democracy.
Informed by the controversial writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s Exile trilogy, Tosatti creates episodes – like chapters of a visual novel – specific to the cities in which he works. The first installation-as-episode was held in Catania, Italy, for Manifesta 12. The second was presented in Riga, Latvia, on September 6th 2018. My Hart Is So Leeg Soos 'n Spieël is the third episode (and is in conversation with Cape Town, where Tosatti is artist-in-residence at A4).
The ambient installation takes the form of an apartment. Blurred images and newspapers rest among indicators of self-possession. A room of clear bottles stands sentinel to a single bed. Individual teeth rest like clues to a cover-up. The installation raises questions: Is the individual able to shirk responsibility within society? What pains does one take to live and not to see?