The ‘Van Gogh’s ear’ award is instituted by means of an object: a real size ear made of almond paste, combining different cultural references:

– the tradition of marzipan “marturana fruit”, and almond paste sweets from southern Italy, also linked to the cult of the dead;

– a reference to the homophobia of the term “ricchione” (“big ear”, translator’s note);

– Italo Calvino’s ‘Italian fairy tales’, in which marzipan dolls of lovers are made in human size (The Marjoram Vase, The Handmade Kingbird).

A sympathetic cathartic gesture, a ‘prize’ dedicated to unhappy and impossible relationships, and issued with tragic lightness.

Lisbon, 2014