In a folder on the computer, and even more so in a bunch of notebooks, I collect the constellations of errors, the still inadequate pages, the ideas that have still sprung up, the ideas that are not mature yet; and who knows that these notes and fragments, this firmament of rambling things will one day be useful to me.
If I say “unfinished” what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
A work that the author did not have the stubbornness or the opportunity to complete it. And the reasons why an author cannot finish a work are even more than those for which an author should be able to do it.
Unfinished what color / shape is it?
A broken line, a line not complete. A very thin black line on a colossal white backdrop. To be closed, that line lacks a final touch, a single pencil stroke, but that touch will never be there.
Is there something you have left undone in your life?
In a folder on the computer, and even more so in a bunch of notebooks, I collect the constellations of errors, the still inadequate pages, the ideas that have still sprung up, the ideas that are not mature yet; and who knows that these notes and fragments, this firmament of rambling things will one day be useful to me. Obviously I hope to be able to reuse them, but their fate is unpredictable. Maybe I’ll need them tomorrow; maybe I will never think of them again.
What is your relationship with unfinished things?
In front of an unfinished work, I have the sensation of reading a private diary whose lock was opened without necessarily asking the owner’s permission. I feel emotion with respect to something that another human being has not completed, whether it happened by his choice or by unfavorable circumstances.
Something unfinished that you would like finished?
A few years ago I wrote a short story, for the Noero Gallery in Turin, starting from an unfinished work by David Hockney. The canvas has a red background, is signed and bears the date, but is otherwise deserted. The painter had invited a couple of his friends to his house to portray them. Apart from the red wall, however, there is nothing else. I wonder: what were the reasons why Hockney did not complete the portrait? A fight? A sudden commitment? Were those two separating? What was Hockney not satisfied with?
Emotions of the unfinished?
Frustration and evil ambition, fear and anguish.
When is a work finished for you?
It’s simpler than you think, at least for the novels we find in bookstores. The completeness of a book is more than anything else a necessary editorial convention: at a certain point, after that work has run along the entire chain of its creation and production, it is considered complete. It is a custom, a formality, most of the time. That same text, now considered complete, could remain in the hands of the author for another twenty years.
3 words you would match with unfinished
Restlessness, respect and promise (one day maybe I will write those pages that so far I have not been able to write).