2010

Installation
| Materials |stamps, 9 A4 paper, dvd, postage.

| view of the installation at ScalaMata Gallery, Venice, Italy |

The right to choose the family name is a right of the person (Article 2 of the Italian Constitution) and it should belong to the person that has to bring it. According to the 2572 / 2004 sentence of the State Council, "no prohibition subsists if the applicant asks to add the surname of his mother to his one (Par. III, No. 1374/84); the principle of the trend to stability of the family name, present in our system, does not implies the absolute absence of exceptions to the rule of recognition of the individual only through the paternal surname."

The "Model A" is the first in a series of forms that have to be completed to start the bureaucratic procedure aimed at changing or adding a surname. 
The A4 sheets put in a sequence presenting a reconstruction of the family genealogy, connected to a research about personal identity, are put in opposition to the official documents.

The first sheet with a revenue stamp is the application for the change of surname for persons of age; it identifies the applicant and offers the opportunity to express the reasons of the request in a limit of fifteen lines. The second sheet consists of a substitutive declaration of personal data certification and of registry of civil status.
To these two models attachments can be added to support the expressed reasons; here five sheets reconstruct the family tree and a DVD contains the video (not visible to the public) of a performance act played at the maternal family’s tomb. 
A postscript concludes the sequence: the materials will be mailed to the competent authorities at the time of death of the last family member that had a direct contact with the ultimate bearer of the maternal family name.