Alberto Stabile
Gibellina Heartquake VR, 2022–2024
Immersive virtual reality experience
26-30 min
We thank the Archivio del Centro Sviluppo Creativo “Danilo Dolci” and Rai (Radiotelevisione Italiana) for providing the archival material
Courtesy Alberto Stabile
Gibellina Heartquake VR was born out of a desire to tell the story of Gibellina and the Belice region, deeply affected by the 1968 earthquake. Using a VR headset, this immersive experience allows users to actively engage with key moments during and after the earthquake. The users are not mere spectators; they are invited to interact with the scenes. The virtual imagery combines computer-generated content with authentic television and radio recordings, poignantly narrating how the identity of an entire community has been shaped over generations. In the exhibition The Presence of Absence, Gibellina Heartquake VR is showcased alongside the photo project Il Cretto è casa mia by the Associazione Gibellina Parco Culturale and the film Il Grande Cretto di Gibellina by Petra Noordkamp, highlighting how memory can be kept alive through art.
The VR project was funded in 2021 by the municipality of Gibellina. Some of the town’s residents and survivors can be heard in original recordings, including the activist Danilo Dolci and then mayor Ludovico Corrao. Despite the great support of the community and the donation of the final version of this virtual work to the Museum of Contemporary Art “Ludovico Corrao” in 2022, Gibellina Heartquake VR is being shown to the public for the first time at the Frankfurter Kunstverein.
The memory of Gibellina and its destruction by the Belice earthquake more than 55 years ago has had a lasting impact on the whole of Sicily. It must not be forgotten. Gibellina Heartquake VR was created to give future generations the opportunity to learn about the experience not just as a distant, historical event, but to experience it for themselves, to be touched by it—and thus to understand the wounds of the people whose lives were changed forever by the force of nature.
The first part of the VR experience shows the historical events of January 1968, beginning with TV images of Gibellina immediately after the earthquake. Users then find themselves, virtually, in an elegant living room in Rome. On television, they see original TV reports and breaking news about the earthquake. In another scene, the dramatic moments of the disaster can be experienced virtually from the perspective of Gibellina’s inhabitants. The contrast between the prosperity in the capital and the poverty in Gibellina illustrates the profound inequalities between southern Italy and the rest of the country at the time. The narrative takes the users to tent cities and huts where the survivors tried to lead a normal life for years under precarious conditions. A thunderstorm rages over the fragile huts and water seeps in. In the background, we hear historical recordings from the community radio station “Radio Libera”, in which activist Danilo Dolci publicly denounces the failure of the Italian authorities to provide decent living conditions in the emergency shelters and to rebuild the city.
The second part of the VR experience takes you into a dreamlike, surreal world. Here, the works of art and architectural landmarks of the new Gibellina stand in an empty landscape, abandoned and waiting to be discovered. Many of the buildings are unfinished. Unlike what they are in reality, this dream world stands for the utopia of a city, Gibellina Nuova (New Gibellina), which was created on the drawing board in the 1970s, 18 kilometres away from the ruins of the former city. The hope of a new beginning was to be symbolised by works of art. In addition to the famous Cretto di Gibellina by artist Alberto Burri, which was created on the ruins of the destroyed old Gibellina, numerous other artists from all over Italy donated works, monuments and buildings to the small town of Gibellina Nuova. But the dream remained an unfinished utopia.
“The vision of the rebirth of the destroyed city through art and architecture is combined with my personal dream of being able to show the VR experience Gibellina Heartquake VR to the public. Both dreams share the fate of having somehow remained unfinished or been thwarted by circumstances. And both thrive on the confidence that they will be fully realised. Gibellina Heartquake VR is being presented to the public for the first time at the Frankfurter Kunstverein. It is my great wish that this project, which was created at the insistence of the residents of Gibellina, will gain new life and visibility not only in Italy but also abroad. In this way, the story of Gibellina can be made known to a wider public so that they can reflect on how to deal with wounds and loss, but also with the hope and the will to transform that dramatic events generate”.
Alberto Stabile
Alberto Stabile (b. 1994, Gibellina Nuova, IT) is a 3D artist and VR developer. His family experienced the 1968 earthquake in Gibellina and is one of the people whose fate has been shaped and changed by it to this day. Since 2018, he has been working as a 3D artist and VR developer, collaborating with architectural firms as well as international automotive companies. After years of working in 3D visualization and full CGI animation, the project Gibellina Heartquake VR represents a return to his roots – an attempt to revive the collective memory of his community through digital art.
