Referring to an idea
2022
Paper made of horse feces
Variable dimensions
“Where do we go from Residenz Platz, the central square in Salzburg? Well, for 80 euros per hour a Fiaker will take you on a tour through the city titled “Horse-Powered Sightseeing”. Whose strength is powering this machine and what propels it? What you don’t see in the 180° view from the carriage is a bicycle rider following you to collect horse shit that falls out along the way.
Nicola Bizzarri did research starting from an image of a pile of shit appearing as a bug in the staged authenticity of Salzburg. Nicola met two migrant workers and presented them with a list of questions, translating his curiosity into the Romanian language. Two workers gave him a bucket of horse shit they collected and Nicola made paper sheets out of it. Papers are places that host documents – written, printed, or electronic matter that provides information or evidence or that serves as an official record.
In his installation, a line floats above us declaring an intent: “Awakening and preserving the love of local customs”. It is the epitome of an association, a constitutional excerpt imagined for regulating workers’ rights and working conditions. On which values, the importance is placed while representing cultural identity? Referring to an idea presents a text that is not caught on paper, paper made of horse shit and designs of crests for a non-existing association.”
Text by Elena Apostolovski, Salzburg, 2022.
