Solitude Sometimes

2023 – Solitude Sometimes, a result of the collaboration between OOOPStudio, Carlo Cerri, and the German choreographer Philippe Kratz for Teatro alla Scala in Milan, offers a fascinating narrative inspired by Egyptian mythology, centered around the Egyptian sun god, Rha. The visual story revolves around the cycle of day and night, tracing Rha’s journey through the realms of the living and the underworld.

The protagonist is Rha, the deity associated with the sun at its peak, noon, when the celestial body is at its zenith. In an unconventional aesthetic language for a classical theater such as La Scala, the video begins with an atmosphere of emptiness dominated by a blinding white light, symbolizing the beginning of the day and Rha’s journey from the east, where the sun rises, to the west, where it sets and dies. The minimalist choreography, with the silhouette of the dancers, represents the god’s journey across the waters of the Nile on his golden boat towards the duat, the afterlife, where he brings light to the damned during the night. Throughout the day, the intense white light describes solar activity, but the transition to the night is marked by increasingly rapid glitches and the processing of Noise as the primary visual element. These represent the obstacles Rha must overcome in the underworld. Black prevails, swallowing the light, and the video becomes fragmented, symbolizing Rha’s weakness in the night.

However, Rha’s presence is never completely nullified; it appears fragmented until, at the end of the journey through the darkness, the day is reborn. White gradually fills the screen, marking the beginning of a new day. This cyclical narrative reflects the resilience of Kratz’s creation, inspired by the Egyptian tradition of the Sun god.

The video stands out for its extreme use of black-and-white, with few chromatic aberrations in glitch and transition effects. The electronic music by Thom Yorke, Modeselektor, and Radiohead guides the video’s rhythm, synchronizing with the dance and providing moments of fade, fusion, and suspension.

We developed the visual aspect of Solitude Sometimes as a multisensory work that blends visual, auditory, and choreographic elements, narrating the eternal cycle of light and darkness in a suggestive and symbolic manner. We utilized the graphic element of Noise, elaborating it as the central visual focus. We brought this innovative fusion of styles, characteristic of the electronic music environment, within the boundaries of the prestigious Teatro alla Scala in Milan.