Maria Orciuoli (IT)
RZ PISCIUM IS AN INSATIABLE EATER OF WORLDS
Interactive video installation, 2019-2022
Piscium is an Insatiable Eater of Worlds' is Maria Orciuoli's first video work discussing consumer culture and accelerationism from the point of view of the body and the mind. Accompanied by an evocative soundtrack, the installation consists of a video projection, gummy candies, and a custom sensor seat. In the video, the protagonist (performed by Maria herself) ravenously eats a pile of waste, unsettling through a candid exploration of a bingeeating ritual until the closing purging ceremony. Filtered through the artist’s experience of recovering from an eating disorder, the video questions society's mainstream values as the protagonist finds herself oversaturated by conflicting impulses. Borrowing the title from the 2017 Astronomical Journal report on the RZ Piscium star dubbed “eater of worlds” for being surrounded by the wreckage of planets it has consumed, the video is a commentary on the current 'capitalism hangover.' It points to the emotional dimensions of this exhaustion by transforming a self-destructive tendency into a hopeful, cathartic gesture.