Angelica Mesiti <br>Assembly
An immersive publication chronicling Angelica Mesiti’s Venice Biennale installation that explores the fragility of democracy.Angelica Mesiti’s three-channel video work Assembly, commissioned for the Australian Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, considers how communities are formed through shared movement and communication. Installed within an architectural setting inspired by the historical shape of the community circle and amphitheatre, Assembly is an evolving set of translations, from the written word to stenographic codes, to music and performance. Mesiti used a stenographic machine to transpose into shorthand, Australian writer David Malouf’s 1976 poem To be written in another tongue. These notes became the basis of a musical score by Australian composer Max Lyandvert and, in turn, a dance performance by the Indigenous choreographer Deborah Brown. Filmed in the Senate chambers of Italy and Australia, the three screens of Assembly transport us through the corridors, meeting rooms