''I Dormienti'' is the seventeenth solo studio album

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

, released in 1999. It is also the title of an art-book by Eno and Italian painter, sculptor and set designer

Mimmo Paladino Mimmo Paladino (born in Paduli on 18 December 1948) is an Italian sculptor, painter and printmaker. He is a leading name in the Transvanguardia artistic movement and one of the many European artists to revive Expressionism in the 1980s. Biograp ...

, released in 2000, packaged with a copy of the album and featuring pictures & sketches of the installation from which the music is drawn. The music on the album is taken from an installation that took place at the undercroft of the Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, Camden, London, from 9 September to 6 October 1999. The event featured the works of Eno and Paladino, who became established in the early 1980s as one of the main exponents of the so-called ''Transavanguardia'', a form of

neo-expressionism Neo-expressionism is a style of Late modernism, late modernist or early-Postmodern art, postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', ''Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wild ...

and

lyrical abstraction Lyrical abstraction arose from either of two related but distinct art movement, trends in Post-war Modernist painting: * European ''Abstraction Lyrique'': a movement that emerged in Paris, with the French art critic Jean José Marchand being cr ...

. This was the second of his exhibitions; the first did not feature Eno's collaboration.

Overview

An Opal release, with no catalogue number, this title is only currently available from EnoShop. The exhibition was in the form of drawings and terracota sculptures – about 30 reclining figures with about 20 attendant

crocodiles Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include all extant member ...

he called ''I Dormienti'', "The Sleepers". The publicity notice said of it, "in the centre of a labyrinth of tunnels", Paladino created "an installation of primordial life forms" that were accompanied by Eno's "unique sound and light production". In actuality, Eno had nothing to do with the lighting; illumination was provided by the venue's dim emergency lights, which imparted a pallor to the sculptures and drawings. The music came from well-concealed speakers and consisted mainly of a three-note ''

Neroli Neroli oil is an essential oil produced from the blossom of the bitter orange tree (''Citrus aurantium subsp. amara'' or ''Bigaradia''). Its scent is sweet, honeyed and somewhat metallic with green and spicy facets. Orange blossom is also extract ...

''-esque sequence, and electronic noise. In his recent installations at

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, stories spoken very slowly, one or two words at a time, were used in the performance, and here the method was developed further with treated, sampled voices speaking in syllables – an idea which would be used in his next album,

Kite Stories ''Kite Stories'' is the eighteenth solo studio album from Brian Eno, released in 1999 by Opal Music. His shortest album at that point, the music on the album is taken from an installation—a show featuring music and visuals—that took plac ...

. The material condensed onto the album in a single track consists of ten or so layers of the aforementioned syllables, speech excerpts, the standard Eno treated piano, and various drones and echoes.

The book

The book was edited by

Demetrio Paparoni Demetrio Paparoni (born Siracusa, Italy, 1954) is an Italian art critic, curator, writer, and editor who has taught History of Modern Art and History of Contemporary Art at the University of Catania. Art Criticism Paparoni is the art critic ...

and published by Alberico Cetti Serbelloni Editore of Milan, in 2000, . Two editions were printed: * A presentation-boxed luxury edition of a print-run of 2000. * A 100-copy special edition accompanied by an aquatint etching with drypoint and presented in a fired terracotta case, both designed by Paladino. It features a five-colour "pentachrome" printing-process, 250 gram card stock, silk screen printed cloth cover, protective sleeve, monochrome and colour photographs by Peppe Avallone of the Roundhouse exhibition, sketches by Paladino and Eno, a dialogue between the two artists, and the text is in Italian and English. 108 pages, 12 × 12 inches. The CD is also included, with a different label from the album.

Track listing

References

External links

* * Three ''I Dormienti'' sculptures by

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Collage

* Information about

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''Roundhouse'' homepage
{{Authority control Brian Eno albums 1999 albums