UNCHECKED CHAIN

^{On the 11-02-1994, by order of the Italian Cabinet, a waste emergency was declared in Campania, a southern region in the Italian territory. The entire waste chain was put under the administration of an extraordinary Government Commission. Expected duration, 10 Months.

18 years later, the situation was unchanged.

The commission was created to investigate illegal industrial and city waste disposal, a result of relations between southern criminal organisations, northern Italy businessmen and corrupt politician; but due to the scale of the emergency, the same criminal organisations that had been part of creating the problem found a way to infiltrate the contracts given to solve it.

Illegal landfills proliferated, and 5 million “eco balls,” waste cubes compacted to be burned in an incinerator, were considered not up to standard to be processed, and stand to this day in ‘’Masseria del Re’’ in the suburbs of Naples. Meanwhile, politicians and the media directed public opinion blaming the problem to the incivility of the Neapolitan people.

In 2012, the waste emergency was brought to an end, but in some part, the local soil remains to this day contaminated by industrial waste that poses severe health risks.

The Unchecked Chain is a multi-channel video installation which investigates the changing of the landscape on the northern suburb of the city of Naples, showing the complexity and the absurdity of the emergency waste drama. Each channel explores a side of the topic creating an independent storyline. The idea is to create almost a feeling of confusion in the spectator, by juxtaposing often contradictory footages of politician’s statements, people involved in the business, illegal dumping and the deep geographical change in the fields outside Naples, without a clear overview to explain the problem, but giving the different point of view on the issues.

Through this research-based project, I hope to raise questions on waste as the final link of a social chain symptomatic of unbalanced power dynamics between territory, corrupt industry, illegal organisations, media, and the will of the few above the need of an entire community.}