LOVELY-RATZ

Bio
Linda Pietrobelli (2001) and Ambra Zamengo (2002) are currently pursuing their Bachelor's degree in Multimedia Arts at IUAV University of Venice. In 2023, they formed the collective “LOVELY-RATZ”, born from the desire to work together, engaging with the dimension of “the other” and considering it as necessary for the development of thought.

Statement
By combining performance and photography in the analysis of human dynamics—with a particular focus on interpersonal relationships and social roles—their artistic research seeks to privilege queer and transfeminist perspectives, placing people at the center of both the artistic project and the work itself. They intertwine aesthetics and conceptual inquiry to create spaces for dialogue and reflection, fostering empathetic connections.
Their artistic practice builds visual and theoretical connections through performative practices and bodily gestures: through these, they explore how the body interacts with its surrounding space, reinterpreting and shaping the environment through itself and its own perception.
In the pursuit of a pre-practical emotional dialogue, their interest lies in understanding relational dynamics through a psychological and anthropological approach, which allows them to explore and communicate the complexities of places, individuals, and communities. From this arises their interest in connecting territory, nature, and people through expressive means such as photography, performance, and other artistic media.

After a long day

performance
15’
2023

After a long day, Castello Gallery, Venice
Performance by Linda Pietrobelli and Ambra Zamengo
After a long day focuses on a gesture that is typically performed at home or in a private setting, where one feels comfortable.
The act of removing socks is a spontaneous, semi-automatic action, a fragment of everyday life that signifies the end of the day for many. The gesture is rhythmically repeated, taking off and putting back on the socks, to highlight its ritualistic nature and analyze how such ritualization can also influence its interpretation. The manner in which the action is performed, consistently and by two bodies already stripped of any other clothing, challenges the intimate nature of the gesture and the possibilities of preserving it.
Throughout the course of the performance, five individuals compulsively immortalize the scene, delineating with their movement a perimeter that optically encloses the environment in which everything unfolds. The final exacerbation of the action is characterized by the progressively increasing speed of execution and the increasingly amplified constraint of movements; it aims to focus attention on the instability of the boundaries between the public and private dimensions, compromising the delicate balance between the two spheres.
The practice explores the relationship between body, photography, and intimacy, analyzing the concept of privacy and the effect that photography can have on the perception of our gestures once they are made accessible and shareable.

Performer: Linda Pietrobelli / Ambra Zamengo / Emma Favetta / Francesco Fazzi / Davide Lo Presti / Carlotta Savio / Federico Stocco