Abstract

This contribution aims at investigating the possibilities of hypertextual reading offered by audiovisual texts, starting from the analysis of the videoart Centomila nessuno by Vera Portatadino (2009). The performance takes up, re-elaborates and quotes Pirandello’s poetics in its intersections with Beckett’s work. The performance is aimed at an educated audience that is capable of interpreting references and meanings. The aim of these pages is to look at the different components of Vera Portatadino’s artistic performance, distinguishing the literary aspects and the visual and audio aspects, which are far from marginal, but co-protagonists in defining the meaning of the text. Starting from the interaction with the visual elements, the sound – or its absence in this case – speaks eloquently to us, by communicating by subtraction, while it steers the spectator’s attention towards certain specific aspects of the artistic expression.