The last dreams, 2026

Room installation, Plaster, Metal, Foam board, Wood, Textiles, Oil on wood, Video – 10 min 20 s, Participant Enrico Rossi.

This work is titled The Last Dreams. “The last dreams had been frightening. None of them were alike. Friends and family morphing in and out of each other. Avenging old grievances. The varicose veins under the compression stockings stretched across the blushing body like plow furrows. He awoke, alone in a cold sweat. Tampering with the white clock hoping it would call off the isolation. Held onto those he could still smell, or drag his fingers across. Portraits of grandchildren on horses. I often found him with a friendly smile.” This piece is a room installation consisting of one “bed” made with a chair, wood and textiles. With a sown together pyjamas on top. Next to it there as a large sculpture with base made in metal, wood, and foam board. The outer shell is made of textiles dipped in plaster. It is resembling an angel leaning towards the bed and facing the video piece. Behind the angel, to the right is an oil painting of a man. The video piece is 10 min and 20s long. The first five minutes of the video, I read a text which I’ve written. In the background is a piano melody I play. The next five minutes consists of Enrico Rossi singing the opera piece Lascia ch’io pianga. He wears a costume I’ve made. And the scenography Is made up of the bed and the angel sculpture. As well as some ceramic sculptures. The sound of the video comes from the ceiling and can clearly be heard in the room. In one of the corners you can also listen to video with headphones. This work came about after working at a dementia home last summer. There I met a man who was at an earlier stage of his dementia. He became a good friend of mine. He told me about his life as a farmer and how he used to plow the fields, accidents with the tractor. He told me about his grandchild and his family told me about him. During my last day of work. I wanted to tell him that I really thought he was a good person and that I was very glad to have met him. He then broke down crying, he said that he couldn’t understand the love people showed to him. He had always been this strong independent man, helping others out. But in this place and with his illness and his little time left on earth. The love became absurd and unrealistic. At least that’s how I perceived it. I wanted to make this piece as some sort of tribute for him. For a short friendship over the summer. About how love and joy, humor still exists and can keep a place floating no matter how sad or tragic it could be. The room installation is this last room of his and many others. A place to soon be left. A place where the bed seems longer and heavier than yesterday. And a place where the white walls turn into angels protecting and caring for this human soul. The text I wrote and read in the video is based on places and things he told me about his life, but in a more “Mythological and storytelling way”. The singing in Italian represents someone or something maybe, singing about life, it’s sorrow and it’s complete joy.