Aristide Rontini: Lampyris Noctiluca

Lampyris Noctiluca, commonly called firefly, is a poetic image used by Pierpaolo Pasolini in his article "The article of the fireflies" contained in the "Corsari writings" to define the dividing line between two times: "the time before the disappearance of the fireflies" and the "time after the disappearance of the fireflies". The firefly simultaneously recalls the various ecological, anthropological and political transformations taking place in his time. Since then, talking about fireflies has been tantamount to alluding to the features of the human world that risk disappearing in the face of the advance of social stereotypy.

In what perspective can Pasolini's themes be linked to the body? Could we imagine it as that place where the self as well as one’s body and one’s desire coincide? That coincidence is threatened by the tensions, defined as "apocalyptic" by Pasolini, to scientism, objectification and homologation that make us a pure headless drive without purpose, a mere thing between equal things.

What generates the vision of faint glimmers in the darkness and the momentary suspension from the blinding lights of the present?

Body and movement practices combined with the reading of some texts, including "Come le lucciole" by Georges Didi-Huberman, are the springboards for my personal research aimed at creating a succession of elusive images capable of relating to the viewer as dialectical game of gaze and of offering oneself as a testimony of the inextinguishable and fragile grace of existence.

Aristide Rontini's Fellowship at Οnassis AiR is supported by the Europe Beyond Access network which is co-funded by the Creative Europe program of the European Union.