She Flickered In and Out of History
Elisa Giardina Papa

She Flickered In and Out of History is a work by Italian-born, New York-based multimedia artist Elisa Giardina Papa that examines the geological, mythological, and political histories of the Mediterranean through the story of an island that appeared and disappeared in 1831. Formed by an underwater volcanic eruption between Tunisia and Sicily, the island’s brief existence triggered a significant sovereignty dispute among European powers.

The Bourbon Crown, then governing Sicily, sent customs officials and planted an oar to assert its claim. The Royal Navy claimed the territory for the United Kingdom, the French Navy landed, and Spain expressed interest. Tourists visited, sailors charted the island, and Bourbon nobility imagined a holiday resort. However, on December 17, just five months after its emergence, the island disappeared beneath the sea.

She Flickered In and Out of History examines the boundary between historical fact and speculation, considering the transformative potential of an island that resisted annexation. Presented as an elemental video environment, it immerses viewers in an ecosystem of unstable, submerged, and resurfacing matter. Filmed on Pantelleria, Stromboli, the east coast of Sicily, Mount Etna, and the submerged slopes of the actual island, the work intentionally excludes historical figures and documented events.

Giardina Papa adopts a meta-cinematic approach to deconstruct cinematic conventions and blur the line between fiction and reality. The island is depicted through shifting seawater, pyroclastic material, volcanic ash, and floating pumice. The visual narrative is dreamlike and metaphysical, remaining largely abstract and resembling a sequence of monochromes punctuated by a poem recited in Sicilian. The film explores decolonial and queer temporalities alongside elemental conflict, challenging established ideas of borders and belonging in both historical and contemporary contexts.

Elisa Giardina Papa’s research-based practice investigates knowledge and desire that are marginalized or obscured by dominant systems. She creates large-scale video installations, experimental films, and critically engaged AI-based projects that highlight aspects of life resistant to computation that remain unruly and untranslatable.

She Flickered In and Out of History is the second chapter in a trilogy that reimagines stories challenging the modern borders of the Mediterranean. The work unsettles familiar ideas of belonging and unbelonging, building on the series’ first installment, U Scantu: A Disorderly Tale, which debuted at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2022 and was presented at MAMBO in 2024.

The project is supported by the Italian Council program (2024) promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture. It was produced in collaboration with MAMBO, where it premiered. Future presentations are scheduled at the Madre Museum in Naples, ICA London, La Nueva Fábrica in Antigua Guatemala, MoCA Taipei, MoMCA Rijeka, and MUNTREF Buenos Aires. The MAMBO presentation is also supported by the Italian Cultural Institute in Bogotá.

Curated by: Eugenio Viola: Born in Naples, Italy, he is a curator, art critic, and holds a PhD in Archaeological and Art-Historical Research Methods and Methodologies from the University of Salerno. He served as General Curator at the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea DonnaRegina – MADRE – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea DonnaRegina from 2009 to 2016, where he was responsible for research related to the museum’s collection and co-curated the first large-scale exhibitions in Italy of artists such as Boris Mikhailov, Francis Alÿs, and Daniel Buren, among others. From 2017 to 2019, he was Chief Curator of the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA). He served as Artistic Director of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá (MAMBO) until 2026.