Alessandro Mancassola & Barbara Ceriani Basilico. Fans, 2011

Alessandro Mancassola and Barbara Ceriani Basilico wanted to get to know Rauma city and it’s people through ice-hockey fans by making a 20 minutes short film from their everyday life. During our two months stay in Rauma they were looking for some Lukko fans, which regularly go to the ice hockey arena to support their favourite team. 9 fans, both female and men, between 9 and 83 years old, participated.

Discovering Rauma through Lukko fans lives is based on the idea, that a lot is written and much is known about sports idols (e.g. USA Baseball players, Indian cricket stars), people know all about their lives: marriages, divorces, life styles. Press and media constantly enlarge and lighten sports stars’ bits and pieces.

On the other hand supporters and fans live hidden, silent lives, which come out only for the match of the day finding their place in crowded terraces. There they are randomly filmed and photographed unexpectedly becoming bizarre folkloristic ornaments. So the artists liked to dig into some of these silent hidden lives being aware of the importance of their “faith”. One of the main Rauma’s sports events certainly is the ice hockey match of Lukko team.

Barbara Ceriani Basilico (Varese,1979) and Alessandro Mancassola (Vicenza,1979) live and work in Milan. They began working together in 2005 during their specialization in Visual Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan. Among others, they exhibited at Turin, Venice, Milan, Bologna, Rome, Birmingham and Tirana.

Besides, Barbara C.B. is specialized in Art Therapy. Working in the field of psychic disabilities, she leads Art Therapy groups in hospitals in Milan and Como. She realized the project of a mural painting in collaboration with the prisoners of Como prison.Alessandro M. teaches photography and videomaking at Brescia Academy of Fine Arts and is also assistant of prof. Bruno Muzzolini at Brera Academy of Fine Arts (Milan). In 2003 he took part of Venice Biennale with the group Omuse, and in 2004-07 was the director of Unorossodue Gallery, analternative space for contemporary art in Milan.