Interview with Marsella Appio

Biographical background and Appio Marsella’s photographic practice. Introductory remarks.

AP.MA. Having moved to Genazzano in 1950, the witness recalls his family’s numerous relocations and his subsequent professional career as a photographer. His testimony focuses particularly on analog photography, understood as a handcrafted and material practice involving the development of negatives and the printing of photographs. Appio Marsella emphasizes the distinction between analog and digital photography and describes his personal photographic archive, currently housed in a storage space located along Genazzano’s main street.

The encounter with Carlo Quartucci and Carla Tatò and early memories of Genazzano Project.

AP.MA. Appio Marsella reconstructs the accidental nature of his encounter with Carlo Quartucci and Carla Tatò, prompted by his curiosity about the artistic activities that were transforming the town. He recalls spontaneously entering the sites where performances and artistic actions were taking place in order to observe what was happening. Fragmentary memories of Uscite emerge, including the two-level arrangement of Sala Martino V, Jannis Kounellis’s curtain made of drinking glasses, and the pyramid composed of local farmers’ wine bottles. The witness also recalls Carla Tatò’s stage presence, the chickens appearing in the performance, and the simultaneity of actions unfolding across Castello Colonna, the Ninfeo del Bramante, and various urban spaces throughout Genazzano.

C.T. Carla Tatò intervenes to clarify a scenographic detail, explaining that each glass was suspended from a transparent nylon thread. She also emphasizes the expansive and site-wide character of the entire project.

Hermann Nitsch, Ninfeo del Bramante and community participation.

C.T. Carla Tatò contextualizes Hermann Nitsch’s performance and specifies that it took place in Piazza del Senile.

AP.MA. Appio Marsella recalls the episode involving the slaughtered animal. He describes the general reaction of the townspeople as one of surprise and curiosity. He also remembers the preparation of the Ninfeo del Bramante, including the construction of wooden seating structures for the audience and the custom of local residents bringing their own chairs from home to attend performances – scenes that he himself documented through photography.

The arrival of Carlo Quartucci and Carla Tatò in Genazzano and the beginning of the photographic documentation of Genazzano Project.

AP.MA. Appio Marsella recalls being in Genazzano at the time of Carlo Quartucci’s and Carla Tatò’s arrival and remembers attending several performances at the Ninfeo del Bramante. Despite certain restrictions on photographic documentation, he states that he continued taking photographs independently.

C.T. Carla Tatò prompts Appio Marsella’s recollections by showing him several archival photographs taken by Paolo Pellion, including an image of Jannis Kounellis’s curtain of glasses.

AP.MA. Appio Marsella recognizes several scenes from Uscite and reflects on the often unsystematic way in which his photographic archive has been preserved over time.

Photography as craft practices and archival project.

The photographic archive of Genazzano.

The transformation of Genazzano over time.

AP.MA.  Appio Marsella observes that Genazzano has undergone profound transformations since the 1980s. His assessment remains nuanced, as he regards some changes positively while expressing greater reservations about others.

The photographs of Genazzano Project and the preservation of the archive.

AP.MA. Marsella confirms that he has preserved a substantial number of negatives, now stored in boxes following several relocations, and emphasizes the documentary value of this photographic heritage, much of which still awaits systematic organization and cataloguing.

Memories of the artistic actions.

AP.MA. Appio Marsella returns to Uscite and Hermann Nitsch’s performance, focusing primarily on the simultaneity of the artistic activities unfolding throughout the town.

C.T. Carla Tatò supplements the account by recalling the presence of works by Lawrence Weiner, Daniel Buren, Hermann Nitsch, and Luciano Fabro, distributed across the urban fabric of Genazzano.

The public reception of Genazzano Project.

AP.MA. Appio Marsella describes the interest generated in Genazzano by the artists’ presence and the influx of visitors arriving from outside the town. The images and situations created by the artistic interventions are remembered as experiences that left a lasting impression on the collective memory of the community.

Territorial visibility and the economic impact of Genazzano Project.

C.T. Carla Tatò emphasizes the considerable financial and organizational investment made throughout the “one thousand days and one thousand nights” of the project, interpreting Genazzano Project as an initiative of cultural regeneration that also enhanced the town’s international visibility.

AP.MA. Through his recollection of the Rome-Fiuggi railway and several artistic actions carried out along its route, the witness highlights Genazzano’s central position within a broader cultural network.

Vinaliae, local administrations, and cultural openness

C.T. Carla Tatò recalls the experience of Vinaliae and the participation of figures such as Gigi Proietti.

AP.MA. Appio Marsella remembers the actor’s arrival in Genazzano and emphasizes the atmosphere of openness that characterized those years. Carla Tatò specifies the title of the text written by Roberto Lerici, L’attore con la valigia (i.e. The Actor with the suitcase).

Curiosity as the origin of the photographic documentation.

AP.MA. He explains that his photographic documentation originated from personal curiosity and an independent initiative that predated his direct acquaintance with the artists.

C.T. Carla Tatò concludes by recalling the restoration and transformation of the Ninfeo del Bramante, describing the interventions that made the site usable once again. She also refers to other artistic projects, including Comédie Italienne and Giulio Paolini’s curtain composed of slides portraying the inhabitants of Genazzano.

End of interview