PERFORMANCE AND EXHIBITION SPACE (SPE)

28 SEPTEMBER - 22 DECEMBER 2019

Miriam Gili
Diamanti

NON-FICTION DOCUMENTARY

winning project of the open call Of Death and Dying

Diamanti is a silent documentary that tells the story of something that is no longer present, but that continues to exist in another artificial form created by man.  As in a science fiction dimension – sci-fi cinema - the lifeless human body is transformed into an object of desire; a diamond.  A diamond of memory, a blue diamond. 

Algordanza (a word that in Romansh means “memory”) is a process that produces, in Switzerland, genuine diamonds from the ashes of cremation or from hair (if ashes are not available) of loved ones who have passed away, transforming the death into a diamond that is "forever".

Alchemy, science fiction, horror, marvel?

The experimental documentary was filmed inside this Swiss company, and follows the processes of the transformation of the deceased body into a diamond and is part of a more comprehensive research into the possible ways of disposing of the body after death.

Does death become an object of desire?  Can death be bought or worn? Looking at a departed loved one sparkling in a diamond, is it easier to accept their loss?

Diamanti is a journey between the shadow of the ashes and the light of the diamond or a journey of a body imprisoned forever in a diamond that shines with light.