It is a precious, very precious book. Not because it costs a lot (and is worth much more than the price) and is in a limited edition (indeed numbered 2011 copies). Nor because it was handed over to the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, by Giovanni Copioli, IMF president in the meeting at the Quirinale with Valentino Rossi and Tony Cairoli.
It is a work of art signed by Mirco Lazzari and Enrico Borghi. For this reason it should not be reviewed among the Christmas presents. It can somehow be associated with a rare medieval parchment tome written by an amanuensis monk. If you want you can also find the “drolerie”, the illustrations inserted in the edges of some pages. Not to fill in the empty spaces as a miniaturist did, but to “open” the paper to multimedia contents.
The Silence, The Opera
It is a tribute to Marco Simoncelli. A wonderful publication that Officine Editore di Modena wanted for the tenth anniversary of Sic’s death. The book starts from the end, with the last photo taken by Mirco of Marco at Turn 4 in Sepang at 16:04:09 on that damned Malaysian Sunday. It was October 23, 2011. And it is clear, therefore, why the copies are only 2011.
“And at that point, one of the busiest and noisiest environments in the world – the circuit – suddenly fell silent.” The silence had made the whole world understand the extent of the drama, before the words of the doctors and the tears of the family.
“Il Silenzio”, therefore, is the title of a book that is not meant to be a memory, but as Borghi says it is “the attempt to explain this extraordinary boy, Marco, who in his own way was an artist”.
Lazzari’s images trace the path of a talent who was about to become a champion. Each shot is a story that goes beyond the timely narration of the reporter, Borghi, who collected the notes to be sent to the MotoGP to describe who Marco Simoncelli was in a kaleidoscope of facts and emotions.
The Silence, The Opera
But the idea for the tenth anniversary of the SIC was to go beyond the… book. An ambitious work was born that probably not everyone will understand in the complexity of those who have studied, elaborated, produced it. A combination of authors, art director, graphic designer and printer that should be taken as an example. A unity of views that is difficult to achieve if one does not believe in enhancing the effort and creativity of others.
We have already said that it is a masterpiece: the quality of Mirco’s 193 unpublished photos is not to be questioned. The photographer’s difficulty was choosing the sequence with which to publish them in a story that didn’t need words. And it is no coincidence that there are two books in one: the first reading is to leaf through page after page enjoying the photographs.
The second reading is dedicated to Borghi’s stories and emotions and to the confidences gathered by Marco: an in-depth study on the personality of a character who was blossoming in MotoGP. A boy who didn’t have time to become a champion, but who left a deep mark of his presence.
The texts are enclosed in pages of a smaller format, on a brown tissue paper, and break the sequence of the photos. The writings fade from the page, as if the words want to leave the page and seek the fingers of someone who eagerly wants to turn the page.
It is an “alchemical” book that satisfies Simoncelli’s fans, but it is a work that is loved by those who appreciate print quality and know the art of photography. Reading the work, in fact, turns into a sensorial experience: even those who are not expert in typography understand that the book was designed to associate the pleasure of touch with the sight of unpublished images.
The Silence, The Opera
It is not an immediate sensation, because in the course of the 242 pages you meet five types of high quality paper (Magnovolume, glossy, uncoated, rough, pearly + tissue paper) in eleven different weights. A puzzle for the printer (Graficart di Treviso) brilliantly solved, because each image was also enhanced by the support in a sort of Rossini crescendo.
Lazzari chose one photo after the other knowing perfectly well on which paper it would be printed. A demanding exercise because the scanning of the images followed Marco’s story, but the chronology was also intertwined with the different supports proposed in different weights and with processes that led to the use of pantones and silver pigmentations.
And that’s not all. Because thanks to the QR Code published on the title page of “Silence” the lucky owners of the book will have the opportunity to enter the multimedia part, thanks to the website www.ilsilenzio58.it, to discover another chapter of this innovative and ambitious work.
The voice of the authors recorded in the podcasts reveals facts, misdeeds and the background of the individual images marked by the “droleria” on the edge of the page (a headset) giving the third (acoustic) reading of the book. The journey to discover the SIC is worth more than the 212 euros that a numbered copy of the work costs.
The copy number 1 and 2011 belong to the two authors, while the 58 was assigned to the Simoncelli family. The remaining 2008 copies (the number celebrates the year of Marco’s 250 world title: as if there is also a numerology that is not at all random) are available and have been numbered by hand. And you can choose the copy you prefer to start a journey that can be defined as “initiatory” into beauty …
Silence
by Mirco Lazzari and Enrico Borghi
published by @officine editore srl
[email protected]
242 pages
193 unpublished photographs
format 23x33 cm
texts in Italian and English
price 212 euros
#Silenzio #work #Simoncelli #book