Performance with Silvia Giambrone, Davide Enia, Dalila Cozzolino, Andrea di Palma

Nobody’s room is a performance including the sculpture of the same name made by microphone stands and kitchen supplies. The text performed by the performers is freely adapted by the text ‘Indicazioni stradali sparse per terra’  of a bosnian poet and playwright Nedzard Maksumic who wrote twenty points about how to survive a war. The text has been adapted to become seventeen points about how to survive the domestic environment.

The adatped text is:

1. In this context, no one is mad. Or at least we cannot claim that anyone is mad. Many of those who were mad before, now stand quite proudly. Like fearless combatants, convinced of the ideas of others.

2. In these conditions, no one is intelligent. You must not believe anyone’s truth. In the blink of an eye, the long discussions there used to be about the senselessness of it all are transformed into a wild scream, the moment we find out what happened.

3. You should not remember anything and try to sleep when you are sleepless, adorn yourself with amulets. Trust that they will help you. Have faith in signs. Listen carefully to your guts. Act according to your feelings. If you think you shouldn’t go down that road, then take another one.

4. Do not be afraid of anything. Fear generates new fear and blocks us. You must firmly believe that you are destined to stay alive.

5. Do not leave things unfinished. Pay all your debts. Keep clean. Do not make new friends. You will have enough to worry about with the friends you already have.

6. Protect your memories, the photographs, the written evidence of the fact that you have existed. If everything burns, if all is lost, if they take everything from you… you will have to be able to prove that you existed, also to yourself. Collect everything in plastic bags, bury it in the ground, seal it inside the walls, hide it, and only reveal the treasure map to a few people.

7. Do not be attached to things, to land, to walls, to houses, jewels, cars, art works, libraries… transform anything that still has a price into money. And most of all, do not be attached to money. As soon as you can, exchange it for freedom.

8. Act for the good of people. Always. Most of the time they do not deserve it, but do it just the same. Do not expect any thanks. Do not ask who you are doing good for. Do not bind yourself to your actions.

9. Do not say what you are thinking. Don’t be so stupid. Because the moment you think, you no longer belong to them. Do not stay silent, because they must not think that you are thinking about something. Speak, just for the sake of speaking.

10.If you find yourself in danger, do not be brave, not even if you are desperate. Try to survive. Do everything you possibly can. You must only be careful not put others in danger with your efforts. Until you are dead, you are still alive. It seems easy to understand. Never forget it. If you must sacrifice yourself, do it for the people you love, never, in any way, do it for ideas. A sacrifice will always be judged incorrectly by others, according to their conscience or perspective. Ideas will pass, they will spoil and become comical. If you stay alive, you will see how hard it is to continue to believe in them.

11. Do not, in any circumstance, beg. Do not beg anyone. Not even if it is a question of life or death. It is a question of good taste. Just think what it would mean to live on the same planet as someone who spared your life.

12.Do not lead anyone. For any reason whatsoever. When you turn round to look for help, there will be no one behind you. Do not count on anyone, but do not ignore the fact that those you love count on you. This is healthy. You must know. Why? ‘Cause the objectives must not be grand, and they must not be in any way general. I know one person who spent the whole time with the desire to have a beer. It’s true, he never managed it, but it was splendid to live desiring it.

13.Do not be surprised by anything. By any conceivable miracle. Do not be downcast about anything. They were all like that before, its just that the conditions were different from how they are now. This is the first opportunity to put yourself to the test. So many people are disappointed by themselves, that your own disappointment is nothing compared to it. If someone betrays you once, never give them another chance to betray you.

14.Always try to be prudent. If you need a hole to hide in, dig it yourself. If someone else does it for you, the hole might be too small.

15.Do not get angry with anyone. At the same time never forget anything. When it is all over, you can decide what you don’t want to remember. If it is all over, do not forget the tests that some did not pass.

16.However, do not base yourself on this. Do not wait for an opportunity to take revenge. Vengeance must be a stranger. It is something that belongs to others. If you survive, you live for yourself and for the others that survived.

17.And then, never think that you are the Voice of Truth. No one is. That is how it seems to me. To another it seems different. Keep your own piece of the truth for yourself. It will be useful only to you. Forsake the right to write down the history of the siege. Do not oppose the list of those who have been chosen as heroes. Do not hope to put things right, not even an injustice that was left unresolved. In that moment history had already been written. There is no space here for one’s own truth.

Now that you know all this, try and protect yourselves and perhaps save you skins. If you don’t manage, at least you will not be bored.