KATIE BROWN - 25 FEB 2021

“Alicka is in search of her own liberation. She does not go back, she dances, runs, walks in the middle of nature that allows her to see "beyond", she ignores her present, she does not see the future and perceives time in her own way. The knight of purification appears as a saviour to her but she soon discovers with time and experience that she is herself the saviour.”

To begin, I invite you to hit play on the Spotify player you see right there. The first track you’ll hear, “Blue Desert”, begins with an ambient natural backdrop quietly fading out to soft piano, strings and synth, with Alicka musing to herself:

“I was born, I was born in the blue desert, between the wind and the sand. I walked with heavy steps at midday, when the ground burned and the sun danced on my head. No path - where will I go? The sand hides the origin of thoughts during the tornados. They dissolve slowly, leaving their remains lying on a new path. I was born in the desert, where I met my unconscious. Where will I go? And now I wait for the night, to rest - to rest my mind, to rest my soul. I was born in the blue desert.”

A balm to the soul, this is Alicka’s ethereally beautiful Procédure de Libération (process of liberation).

Begun by Russian multidisciplinary artist Alla Chiara Luzzitelli, aka Alicka, in the summer of 2019, Procédure de Libération is a journey of emotional exploration, a key theme in her creative work.

Born in Russia and growing up in Italy, Alicka began pursuing the arts at 14 years of age via the medium of photography. During the ensuing years, this became her primary method of artistic communication, leading into the creation of art videos and various cinematographic experiments. Nowadays, she does not like to limit or define herself by any particular artistic practice, preferring instead to let the needs of her explorations themselves inform the techniques and methodologies she uses.

At the heart of her work is the interpretation of human emotion, a theme that is very dear to her.

She says, "there is a great need to get to that "beyond" that I feel on me but I never reach it, it is an approach through art and sooner or later I will overcome that limit, this leads me to work more and more on myself in search of the meaning of the human being, of its fragility and all that a human being can feel emotionally."

Built of three primary components, music, visuals (photography and film) and writing, Procédure de Libération is a body of work based around an experimental EP featuring spoken-word poetry in French and English. The tracks are set to a background of instrumental music by Italian composer and pianist Mattia Vlad Morleo, Alicka’s collaborator in the project, who she serendipitously met and connected with creatively after seeing him perform live. They also feature cellist Mauro Paolo Monopoli.

The project involves the EP, two introductory tracks (“Golden Flowers” and “Introduction à la Liberation”), and two short films, Cher Temps and the main feature Procédure de Libération (view both below).

Writing the lyrics to Procédure de Libération as a form of musically-adapted poetry, Alicka intended for them to be interpreted in the manner of a short story, an intention that is beautifully achieved through the different elements of the body of work. The culmination of this is a stunning short film released in December, set to the track “Procédure de Libération” (view at the end of this piece).

Directed by Alicka, co-directed by Matteo Falco and featuring dancer Riccardo Ardusso alongside Alicka as the ‘knight of purification’ with artist Vanessa Ferrauto collaborating as painter, the short film is a gorgeous, thought-provoking exploration of the discovery of one’s own inner strength and sovereignty.

The two emotions driving the birth of Procédure de Libération as a complete project were, as Alicka says, “anger and rancour, two states so brutal but also so important, at least I believe in our life path”. She speaks of the frustration of “words unsaid between two people, time slipping through your hands, the distance between the ‘I’ and the self”, and needing to find release from these things with a new form of personal liberation.

Alicka describes the collection of work as an “emotional release” through natural sounds, words, noises and whispers, and the process of writing the poetry that is the backbone of the project indeed became Alicka’s own liberation procedure: a cathartic method of exploring and processing these emotions that she hopes will result in an ultimate transformation — the letting go of one stage of her life and embracing what is next.

Reminiscent of the touching, melancholic beauty of both the cinematography and soundtrack of the likes of Jane Campion’s Bright Star, Procédure de Libération as a complete entity is an incredibly delicate and tender, introspective reflection on life.

The sylph-like Alicka is able to take aspects of herself and her experiences and examine them with a generous curiosity, inviting her audience in to participate in her reflections and take them on as their own. Through her words she paints gossamer-like worlds to become absorbed and lost in as she encourages her listeners to consider her words and find their own truths in what she is unobtrusively communicating.

Emotive and spellbinding in its own right, Mattia’s music is the perfect complement to Alicka’s work. His artfully sensitive compositions with their minimal, graceful simplicity dance and weave in and out of Alicka’s poetry, bringing it to life and enhancing its meanings and significance with his own exquisite musical interpretations of the poetry’s depths.

Procédure de Libération is a beautiful, soothing and contemplative journey to experience, and the EP is one to go back to in times of quiet reflection.

Alicka is currently working on new projects.

Discover the two short films Cher Temps and Procédure de Libération below.

Follow Alicka on Instagram | YouTube | Spotify

Follow Mattia Vlad Morleo on Instagram | Facebook | Spotify

Alicka: Cher Temps

“Cher temps, je te trouve encore, mon ami.

Je vous ai dedié tant de mots, mais ils ne semblent pas assez, pas assez.

Derrière moi, il nʼy a plus aucune trace, ou presque, de ces fragiles moments tremblants.

Il apparait étrage de te revoir, à la fin ici, avec moi. Tu me suis toujours et quelquefois tu disparais.

Mon ami, dʼinnombrables fois, je tʼai demandé de courir et vous marchais lentement, apportant avec vous une valise, de doutes et incertitudes et comment je tʼai demandé de lent, tu ne voulais pas mʼécouter.

Notre passé est un instant mal comprendue et n’est pas écouté, comme du reste dans chacun détail de la vie quotidienne.

Tu restes fidèle à moi, et puis la vie apparait d’une seule nuance. Mon Ami, je vous demande de courir mais aussi de marcher.

(Cher Temps: lyrics)

Alicka: Procédure de Libération

"Somewhere, I went back to the origins, the origins of life.

I get lost in the void and then comes the feeling, of seeing clearly, and comes the liberation. Breathe the light, the vision! That follows me from afar, the knight of purification.

Untouchable is the mood that accompanies me in a white dress.

Somewhere I went back to the origins, the bases, maybe I’m a birch, maybe I’m the sea, I’m here.

A constant balance. I transform myself into the earth, to give birth to a tree with solid roots.

I get lost in the order of disorder, in the courage, in the perseverance that I returned to the origins

I get lost in the order of disorder, in the courage, in the perseverance that I returned to the origins, I returned to the origins.”

(Procédure de Libération lyrics: translation by Alicka)

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