In Esercizi Obbligatori (Compulsory Exercises) the aesthetic ambition of power is declined in multiple contexts: the social and collective, the individual one and finally the family one, in the context of a collective and individual projection of society. In these contexts the Bodies are also a product of situations and of the forms of power they undergo, becoming therefore pure demonstration material.
The work is conceptualized as an opera with internal movements symbolizing the futility of the exercises and the unresolved tension. Totalitarianism, seen as a method to conform individuals and masses to a single thought, transforms human nature through state and politics, making the body a tool for productivity and subjugation.
Divided into three acts, the piece presents an archetypal society, stripped down to its core actions. Power is shown as a strategy, manifested through various provisions and tactics, with ideology faithfully tied to violence. The acts interpenetrate while defining their borders.
Act I depicts the mandatory exercises of the Fascist era, likened to a Greek choir, symbolizing the collective body within society. Act II focuses on the individual’s struggle to adapt to imposed limits, where simple actions become complex due to restricted possibilities. Act III examines the family as the first social structure, portraying formal rituals emptied of meaning, linking back to the collective exercises of Act I and creating a visual and narrative continuum.
Today more than ever we must remember the need for a critical sense and the illusory nature of our autonomy of thought.
Act II was created during an artist residency at Twenty14 Contemporary gallery, MI (Italy)