Michele Di Stefano and a book

In the fifth duet of the series – a reconstruction of the performance shown in Mousonturm-Saal in 2020 – choreographer Michele Di Stefano meets Andy Warhol’s diaries. In every duet until now, the object, through its functions, proposes the duration of the work, according to the time it needs to reveal itself. In the case of the diaries and their 807 pages, the book demands a length of 72 hours in order to be read in its entirety. As a consequence, Di Stefano and the book will spend three full consecutive days and nights together in an apartment at Mousonturm. The public is invited to follow this reading marathon in a one-on-one situation for about 20 minutes each.

What happens in these 72 hours while reading? This simple question gives rise to complex physical dialogue between Di Stefano and the book. A book consists of nothing but white paper and black letters. However, it opens up intimate, mental spaces which the reader navigates thanks to her/his imagination. This unusual duet explores the relationship between materiality and immateriality, between the process of reading and being read, inviting the inner voices of the spectators, their imaginary worlds, to merge with those of Di Stefano and the book.