Anything to say?
"Anything to say?", is a life size bronze sculpture, portraying three figures each one standing on a chair. The fourth chair is empty because it is our chair. The one for us to stand up on to express ourselves or simply to stand next to Edward Snowden, Julien Assange and Chelsea Manning, who had the courage to say no to the intrusion of global surveillance and to lies that lead to war. Both loved and hated, they chose to loose the comfort zone of their lives to tell the truth.
The work has been inspired by Charles Glass, author, journalist and broadcaster, and brought to life by artist Davide Dormino who believes in the power of Public Art. « It has the power to make people grow and change their point of view. The chair has a double meaning. It can be comfortable, but it can also be a pedestal to rise higher, to get a better view, to learn more. They all chose to get up on the chairs of courage. They made their move in spite of becoming visible, thus threatened and judged. Some think they are traitors. History never had a positive opinion of contemporary revolutionaries. You need courage to act, to stand up on that empty chair because it hurts.»
An itinerant sculpture dedicated to the courage and freedom of expression that began its journey from Berlin (Alexanderplatz) on 1 May 2015 and later the work moved to Dresden (Theatrerplatz, Ostrale), Geneva (Place des Nations), Paris (Place Georges Pompidou), Strasbourg(Place Klèber), Tours (Gare de Tours), Perugia ( Piazza IV Novembre), Belgrade (Dev9t Festival), Ptuj-Slovenia (Art Stay Festival), Roma (p.le Aldo Moro), Spoleto (Piazza Campello), Berlin (Brandenburger Tor), Bruxelles (Place de la Monnaie).
For this work he received the 2016 Prix Èthique from the French organization AntiCor.