Andrei Tarkovsky wrote in 1983, in Domenico’s speech in the film “Nostalghia” the real problem of our times, which has become even more obvious in the last two years.
Everything I have pursued in my work in culture and the arts has been a form of pursuing this message that Tarkovsky articulated in Domenico’s speech.
To those who question what relevance does “The Book of Vision”, the film I produced which will be released in the UK later this year, have to the last two years, the answer is both in the film itself and in this speech.
To those who asked what biourbanism is about, although my friend Stefano Serafini coined the word, to me the essence of biourbanism lies in Domenico’s speech. That’s why I see biourbanism as a solution and resistance to the smart city being imposed upon us.
What was Watering Holes, the drinking fountain I designed in Green Park about? What was “Yacht House”, the holiday flats I designed in Crimea about? It was all about this speech, everything I have consciously done in the arts has been about this speech. All of it can be understood by listening to the words of Domenico.
Listening to them today it almost feels as if he is pleading, one last time, for all of us to finally open our eyes, and gain a true, empathic, vision of reality which includes everyone and is based on real, physical communal life for all, not just a select group who agree with the majority view of the day.
No Place Without Spirit 