BALLAD OF THE END (ZINE + FROTTAGE)

ZINE:

34 pages
5 loose sheets + 2 folded sheets (four-fold)
Dimensions: 20.5 × 15.5 cm
Printed on Cyclus Offset 100 g/m²

FROTTAGE:

Graphite on Rosaspina 300 g/m²
Dimensions: 20.5 × 15.5 cm

Ballad of the End – Limited Edition, published by DITO Publishing, is an artist’s zine in a limited run of 15 copies, stemming from a performative project. First presented on February 8, 2022, as part of the Materia Nova exhibition at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Rome, in collaboration with Jordi Pallarès and DITO Publishing, it was later hosted at Fondazione Rusconi in Bologna in partnership with Hidden Garage. Each copy of the publication contains a unique artwork by the artist.

At the heart of the performative project, a mass of tuff bricks functions as a catalyst for acts of construction and deconstruction. Gesture, weight, and material fragility articulate a meditation on the notion of the end as a collective event, opening up a space for shared experience. Throughout the performance, predetermined actions interweave with spontaneous, unpredictable dynamics: boulders are hurled, dragged, shattered, and reassembled; they become pedestals, obstacles, or surfaces of support. The interplay of movement and stillness defines a shifting equilibrium between those who act and those who observe, between vertical architectures, horizontal trajectories traced on the floor, and the raw sonic resonance produced by material friction.

The zine mirrors these dynamics through a format precisely scaled to ¼ of the tuff block used in the performance. Photographs and texts act as modular components—fluid, reconfigurable—transforming each copy into a singular, open-ended object.

Complementing the zine, a series of 15 frottage works form a special edition of the project. The imprints left by participants—scratches, incisions, and abrasions etched into the tuff—were later engraved by the artist using the tip of a nail. Through graphite, these traces are transferred onto paper, layered with the artist’s fingerprints, generating works that crystallize the tactile and gestural memory of the performance.

The loose, unbound pages invite the reader to become an active participant in the process, reconfiguring the sequencing and composition of the publication in an ever-evolving act of reinterpretation.