Franco Vaccari

The artist Franco Vaccari (*1936 Modena, lives in Modena) has pursued a strong interest in dreams since the 1980s, above all by making colorful drawings that depict his own. For him, dreams have a special meaning: the artist advances the theory that our world has, more and more, abandoned reality and shifted to the land of dreams.

The question of the extent of reality is also posed by viewers of his video Oumuamua (2020). We find ourselves in a scene that seems like a strange dream: We see the expanses of the universe, the light of the sun from off camera; a mysterious melody is heard that can suddenly seem menacing. An elongated object appears in the center of the firmament and begins to move inexorably toward us, turning away at the last second. The object is made of a kind of stone, and could therefore be described as a meteor or asteroid, but its form seems somewhat bizarre and also recalls a spaceship, and its precise nature ultimately remains unclear. The foreign body seems at once fascinating and threatening and inevitably captivates its observers.

On October 19, 2017, astronomers at an observatory in Hawaii noticed a phenomenon in the universe that they could not explain. It is suspected that it was an asteroid but, strangely, its path was not affected by the surrounding planets but instead cut across interstellar space. Scientists were also puzzled by its form, because it was not typical for a meteor and was described as ​“cigar-shaped” or ​“pancake-like.” Moreover, sunlight was reflected from its surface in an unusual way, suggesting to some scientists that it was a metal artifact. This object was given the Hawaiian name Oumuamua, meaning ​“messenger from a distant past that is reaching out to us.”

This gigantic celestial body was flying directly at us but nothing happened. By translating this surreal-seeming but nonetheless real event into a programmed video simulation, Franco Vaccari has created a situation from which we can question our self-understanding. How do we perceive our human reality? And what would change if we were to know about the existence of extraterrestrial life? What could happen if people were to ignore their many problems and conflicts and think in a united way? And, finally, what future remains to us, still feeding on its ancient, remote past?