The use of children's tales is not new in Mondongo's work: with Little Red Riding Hood, they had already stretched the limits of the popular, using the story as a catalyst for exposing the weaknesses and excesses of humanity. Here, they exhibit Pinocchio's adult life preserving some traits of the unanimated.
Behind a windowpane, the character carries out a series of actions recreating daily rituals or scenes of the world of art; he prepares for a Saturday night out; he tidies up his house on a Sunday afternoon while hanging and taking down his hatchets; a procession of girls dressed in white, holding classical art paintings in their tiny hands, passes by as if working in an art auction, just to mention a few.
The space where Pinocchio lives simulates a large fort inspired in the Hall of Mirrors of the Versailles Palace but stripped from its opulence, for it is made up of wooden boxes originally used for vegetables. Its depth exacerbates the illusion, evidencing the disproportion of scale between the place and the body that inhabits it. The cincture folds over the character, turning the scene into a self-reflective reverie.
With this playful mise-en-scene, where the roles of Pinocchio, the girls and other characters are played by different performers in each action, Mondongo explores issues of gender, and existing taboos on sexuality.
Production: National Museum of Fine Arts, Neuquén – Argentine Ministry of Culture- Neuquén City Hall
Curated by Oscar Smoljan
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