"...the political space, the locus of power, is itself perhaps only an effect of perspective. Such a dangerous secret, such a radical hypothesis, the Prince must keep to himself in the strictest secrecy: for it is the very secret of his power.”
Jean Baudrillard in "Trompe-l’Oeil or the enchanted Simulation"

“A person assumes his full human stature when he is upright. The word ‘stand’ is the root for a large cluster of related words which include "status", "stature", "statute", ‘"state" and "institute". They all imply achievement and order. [....] Whatever is superior or excellent is elevated, associated with a sense of physical height”
Yi-Fu Tuan in "Space and Place – The Perspective of Experience".

The intent of the project is to investigate the correlations between the physical form of places and their identity, historical and current, with the thesis that the geomorphology of a place is determinant for its historical-constitutional evolution as the external form becomes expression of the "inner" nature.
Living not far from its border, the choice fell on the small Republic of San Marino, former tax haven, with its particular geopolitical features, however enclosing those common elements generally constituting a state.
The project is meant to be a speculative fusion of the naturalistic, historical and economic-political aspects inherent to the small republic, leading consequently to a reflection on the relationship between physical space, real place and its imaginary or symbolic counterpart.
The research present a special assessment on the ‘vertical landscape’ of San Marino in relation to the concept of ‘state’ as expression of the identity and the organizational modalities relating to a specific territory.
The concept of "state", here intended in the legal sense and therefore abstract, is defined only in relation to a physical territory (parallel to the geographic map which is a graphical representation of the actual territory).
In this historical period where borderlines are interpreted rather ambiguously, with considerable openness and lack of transparency when it comes to economic and financial exchanges - in stark contrast to the impermeability towards the flows of migration, attention is paid to the idea of "border" - equally immaterial as the concept of "state" - by examining the relationship between the imaginary lines, that represents the borders, in relation to their concrete and direct corresponding "drawn" on the physical terrain.
Reflecting on the nature of border as a division, that separates and at the same time unites; that "organizes" the territory conceptually and express its geographical continuity, in turn, in a broader perspective, could refer to the principles of the Planetary Garden (Gilles Clément), where the Earth is understood as belonging to all, both as natural resource and responsibility.

Video-actions, part of the project:

Titano | 2015 on Vimeo

Editing: Gedske Ramløv and Giovanni Luca Sciové
Single copy edition 2015
Full HD video, 22 min.

SENZA FINE - a passage between two states | 2015 on Vimeo

Editing: Gedske Ramløv
Full HD video, 2 min
2015-16.

1) Monte Titano, The Republic of San Marino
Pinhole photo;

2) and 3) The Adriatic seaside with the tourist coast near Rimini, in Central Italy; economic centre of gravity of the whole zone, primarily thanks to its tourism industry. Through the last decades it maintains important financial exchanges of various nature with the Republic of San Marino.
In the background stands out the recognisable profile of the Mount Titano.
Frame from video;

4) Monte Titano seen from the International airport of Rimini "Federico Fellini".
Analogue photography;

5 a/b/c/d) An abstraction on the concept of verticality as a corollary:
Spatiality (topographic map) > Verticality > Superiority > Power > Money > Architecture > in a circular connection, playing on the image of the central highway of The Republic of San Marino, that descends sinuously, almost in free fall down to the customs, in 4 variations in which is condensed the interaction between verticality, power and money.
The latter is here represented by the images of the watermarks on the 7 bank notes of the Italian state portraying 7 different architectural styles, thus reconnecting to the theme of power expressed through the possession of the land and therefore the real estate – the "architecture" - historical emblem of the "hidden powers".
4 collages on paper: pencil - photocopies on rice paper - coloured straw paper.
(50 x 70 cm);

6) Bas-relief from the late 19th C., San Marino State Museum.
The Saint Marino, is here represented with the symbol of the Freemasons, the pyramid with an eye;

7) Frame from video "Titano";

8) Frame from video "Senza Fine".