Drawing on the history of the arts from the first abstractions of the late 19th century to the 'expanded cinema' of the 1970s as well as the cognitive sciences, psychology and esoteric beliefs, Meris Angioletti's work investigates the mechanisms of perception, memory and the psyche.
La Galerie Contemporary Art Centre in Noisy-le-Sec is presenting the first solo
exhibition in France of the work of Meris Angioletti (b. 1977 in Bergamo, Italy).
A major
step in the career of an artist who opted for settling in France after an initial residency
in 2005, this is the French public's first chance to see a group of recent works together
with others produced specifically for the exhibition.
Drawing on the history of the arts – from the first abstractions of the late 19th century
to the "expanded cinema" of the 1970s – as well as the cognitive sciences, psychology
and esoteric beliefs, Meris Angioletti's work investigates the mechanisms of
perception, memory and the psyche.
Applying an analytical method in which
iconographic exploration and writing complement each other, the artist creates light
and sound installations, video projections, slide shows, publications and photographs.
The projection of light, images and colours and the diffusion of sound in a given venue
aim at setting up a relationship between physical and mental space in a way that can
generate "inner visions" for the viewer.
Each of Angioletti's works is an attempt to give concrete expression to such hitherto
unexplained psychological processes as the creation of mental images, free association
of ideas and intuition: each is a new way of speculating about the links between the
visible and the invisible or between what is conscious and what is not.
Certain more
narrative pieces, in which text is used in the form of voices, footnotes and hypertext,
are closer to an investigation of language in its raw or latent state.
Central to the
Angioletti approach is the concept of translation: of numbers into movement, memory
into dialogue, historical events into images, mental mechanisms into sounds, etc.
At La Galerie the artist has opted for a two-level presentation: a substantial group of
installations on the ground floor echoes a sub-exhibition in what used to be the cellar.
On the ground floor visitors will find the silent video projection 14 15 92 65 35 89 79
32 38 46 26 43 38 32 79 50 28 84 19 71 69 39 93 75 (2009), in which the figures
occurring after the comma in the number Pi are mnemonically translated into words,
then into images and finally into actions performed by mimes.
Facing this work, the
light and sound installation The Curious and the Talkers (2010) simultaneously
presents a dialogue based on the artist's conversations with a medium capable of
viewing events taking place at a distance and various theories on the telepathic
qualities of light.
There follows a new clay sculpture suggestive of a stela or a
Sumerian seal, which embodies the historical shift from a purely visual form to writing.
Functioning as a transition to the downstairs exhibition, the video Il Paradigma
Indiziario ("The Indicial Paradigm", 2009) is a journey through the subterranean
passages of Milan, punctuated with narratives conjuring up a collective imagining of
these hidden places.
Then, in the basement, a sound installation uses the voices of
teenagers reciting a text by the artist based on research into the origin of imaginary
languages. In a return to the role of the chorus in Greek tragedy, this work can be
seen, in the context of the exhibition, as a commentary running parallel to the mise-
en-scène on the ground floor.
"The use of an imaginary language reflects my interest in translation as a cerebral
activity – the brain constantly translating external stimuli – and as a phase in the
process of artistic creation in which thought is translated into a visual, sound, verbal
or other language.
Also representing the unconscious – and even the esoteric (in the
sense of the hidden) – the basement is a transitional zone between what is not
manifest in the work and what is visible."
Image: Meris Angioletti, The Curious and the Talkers, 2010
Press contact:
Marjolaine Calipel - Communication, Publications and Press Relations Officer. Tel. +33 (0)1 49426717 / marjolaine.calipel@noisylesec.fr
Press preview: 5-6pm in the presence of the artist
Opening Friday 16 September 6-9pm
La Galerie
Centre for Contemporary Art
1 Rue Jean Jaurès - Noisy-le-Sec
Opening hours
Tuesday – Friday, 2 – 6 pm
Saturday 2 – 7 pm and by appointment
La Galerie is closed on 1 and 11 November
Free admission