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9/2/2007

Dwelling Among the Elsewheres

Botkyrka konsthall, Stockholm

Blured Boundaires between film and video

Curated by Dobrila Denegri

Ra Di Martino - Thorsten Kirchoff - Deborah Ligorio - Adrian Tranquilli

For one of the key protagonists of the Land Art, Robert Smithson, the experience of a cinema gazing was comparable to the state that he metaphorically indicated as “Dwelling Among the Elsewheres”. Smithson’s concern about the effects of cinema gazing and the state of passive absorption of cinematic “de-realities” is the point of departure for the reflection on the condition of contemporary culture, totally overwhelmed by visual imagery. He suggested that the result of watching films is “a state of stupefaction” but today’s generation of artists, who live and work in hyper-mediated reality, show a major absorption of visual inputs coming from film, TV or the internet, as well as the phenomena of blurred boundaries between real and fictional, rather than expressing their astonishment. For contemporary artists film is a “raw” material, and its clichés, heroes or narrative structures are appropriated and used in analytical and deconstructive ways. For these artists film-fiction is a point of departure for a journey that has as a point of arrival a concrete reality. “Elsewhere” of the film is like a metaphorical landscape that we can dwell through, but that can also bring us back to the question of the real, of concrete human condition, of intimate feelings and personal stories.

Each of four artists in the show, Rä Di Martino, Thorsten Kirchoff, Deborah Ligorio and Adrian Tranquilli, take certain notion of cinema and its genres (on the road film, science-fiction, western and thriller) as a point of departure, to unfold it in stories that indicate different directions that move away from main-stream cinema imagery. Video “Donut to Spiral” of Deborah Ligorio has a structure of the on-the-road-film combined with the elements of the personal diary. Her journey starts in L.A., the symbolical centre of the entertainment industry, that the artist abandons to reach South Lake City and Robert Smithson’s major earth-intervention “Spiral Jetty”. This work is a dreamlike journey between non-sites that function as an “introduction” to “elsewheres” of other works, like the melancholic and oneiric atmospheres of Adrian Tranquilli’s “Future Imperfect”. The video focuses on one of the major super-hero figures created by comics, the Batman, who seems to be reaching a point of disappearance. Through his work Tranquilli is deconstructing a notion of classical hero, since his Batman seems incapable of accomplishing his major goal: to be a saver or “The Saviour”, leaving us in the uncertain present and “imperfect future”. In her work “The Dancing Kid”, Rä Di Martino also deals with the notion of the hero, but on a larger stand, she also operates a sort of process of deconstructing film vocabulary and its inner language, using the famous western “Jonny Guitar” as a reference. The narrative structure of film and the creation of suspense is the issue that Thorsten Kirchoff examines through his work, “An Evening with Dr. Hoffmann”, that departs from the black and white films of Alfred Hitchcock’s great thrillers.

So if fictional and fantasy universes created by cinema and film in its entity is the starting point, for each of these artists it is also a notion that needs to be revaluated, analyzed and deconstructed in order to “use” it for the construction of new narratives.

THORSTEN KIRCHHOFF - Born in 1960, Copenhagen. Lives and works in Rome.

Selected solo exhibitions: Lucas Shoormans Gallery, New York; Alberto Peola Gallery, Turin (2006); Gallery VM21, Rome (2004); Accademia di Danimarca, Rome; Caterina Mamberto, Savona (2002); Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice (2001); Gallery Sperone, Rome; Museo d’Arte della Provincia di Nuoro; Studio Raffaelli, Trento (2000); Spazio Aperto, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Bologna (1999); Gallery Massimo De Carlo, Milan (1995). Selected group exhibitions: 2006 - videoReport ITALIA 2004-5, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Monfalcone, a cura di A. Bruciati; 2005 - CLIP’IT, Fondazione Re Rebaudengo, Torino, Prague Biennial, curated by L. Beatrice; B.Y.O., Opere dalla Collezione Teseco, Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro; Video.it, GAM, Turin, curated by E. Volpato; Adesso, Mudima 2, Berlin; 2004 - Portraits, Esso Gallery, New York; 2003 - Meltingpop, Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena, curated by G. Marziani; Cover Theory, Officina della luce, Piacenza, curated by M. Senaldi; Video.it/torino, GAM, Turin, curated by F. Poli, E. Volpato, M. Gorni; 2002 - Le opere e i giorni, La Certosa di Padula, curated by A.Bonito Oliva; 2001 - La Biennale di Valencia; Torino film festival; 2000 - welcHome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, curated by G. Marziani; Giganti, Fori Imperiali, Rome, curated by L. Pratesi & P. Magni; 1999 - Lepisma saccarina, Magazzino d’Arte Moderna, Rome, curated by C. Perrella; 1996 - Love All, Fargfabrikken, Stockholm; 1994 - Emergenze ‘94, Gallery Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Trento; 1993 - Sperone Westwater, New York; La Coesistenza dell’Arte, La Biennale di Venezia, curated by L. Hegyi; 1990 - Aperto ’90, La Biennale di Venezia

DEBORAH LIGORIO - Born in 1972, Brindisi; lives and works in Berlin.

Selected solo exhibitions: Bird’s Eye View, Bürofriedrich (2006); Flicker, Projekt 0047, Berlin and Strange. Familiar. Places. with Mats Adelman, Signal, Malmö (2005); Deborah Ligorio & Laura Horelli, Galerie KunstBank, Berlin (2004). Selected group exhibitions: 2006 - Pause, Stazione Leopolda, Firenze, curated by M. Chini; Milano. Melbourne. Milano, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, curated by C. Agnello & R. Tenconi; 2005 - Screen Fields, Session House, Tokyo, curated by M. Kajimura & S. Wendland; M CITY – European Cityscapes, Kunsthaus Graz, curated by M.de Michelis; Re-Process, Museum of Applied Arts, Belgrade, curated by D.Denegri; U – Move, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Monfalcone, curated by A.Bruciati & E.Volpato; Art-Chitecture of Change, Isola Art Center a La Stecca degli Artigiani, Milan, curated by M. Scotini; E-Flux Video Rental, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, project by A. Vidokle & J. Aranda, invited by A. Beyn; Follow Your Shadow, Galleria d'Arte Moderna - Villa delle Rose, Bologna Premio Querini-Furla per l'arte, curated by C. Bertola; 2004 - It’s Time to Stay Home and Get Some Audience, Mackey Apartments, Los Angeles, curated by MAK Center for Art and Architecture; 7 (K)NIGHTS, Galleria Miscetti, Rome, L'universo Ambidestro curated by E. Volpato & Ooze curated by D. Denegri; 2003 - Re-Location, Superstudio, Milan, curated by C. Corbetta; 2002 - Hanted by Detail / Fiction & Form, De Appel Filmmuseum, Amsterdam; EXIT, Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Turin, curated by F. Bonami; Polyphonix 40, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, curated by M. Corti; To The Lighthouse, GAM, Torino, curated by E. Volpato; 2001 - Strategies Against Architecture II, Teseco Foundation, Pisa, curated by L. Cerizza; 2000 - Atmosfere Metropolitane, Openspace, Milan, curated by R. Pinto.

RÄ DI MARTINO - Born in 1975, Rome. Studied and worked in London (1997 – 2004). Livs and works in New York.

Solo exhibitions: Monitor Gallery , Rome (2005 and 2003). Selected group exhibitions: 2006 - Setting The Scene, MACRO & Discoteca di Stato, Rome, curated by C. Canziani, A. Drake & A. Panni; The Mind/Body Problem, Artists Space, NY, curated by C. Rattemeyer; 2005 - T1 TriennaleTorinoTreMusei, Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation & Castello di Rivoli, curated by F. Bonami & C. Christov-Bakargiev; Follow Your Shadow, Galleria d'Arte Moderna - Villa delle Rose, Bologna Premio Querini-Furla per l'arte, curated by C. Bertola; 2004 - All Tomorrow’a Parties, The Yugoslav Biennal of Young Artists,Vrsac, Serbia, curated by C. Canziani; Surely We Will Be Confused, Fondazione Ratti, Como, curated by G. Di Pietrantonio & R. Pinto; VideoZone 2°, Intern.l VideoArt Biennal, Tel Aviv, curated by C. Perrella; 2003 - Cosmos Biennale Young Artists of Europe & the Mediterranean, Athena; Beck’s Futures Student Film Award, ICA, London.

ADRIAN TRANQUILLI - Born in Melbourne, 1966, lives and works in Rome.

Selected solo exhibitions: Don’t forget the Joker – sense of falling-falling of sense, Studio Stefania Miscetti, Rome (2006); The Age of Chance, Scognamiglio Arte Contemporanea, Naples and Until the end, Spazio Symphonia, Milan (2005); These Imaginary Boys, Marella Arte Contemporanea, Milan and Sometimes Somewhere Some Heroes, Parkhaus, Düsseldorf (2004); Know yourself (video screening curated by G. Marziani, C. Perrella), MACRO al Mattatoio, Rome & Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena (2003); Believe, Fondazione Bandera per l’Arte, Busto Arsizio, Milan (2002); Evidence, Studio Stefania Miscetti, Rome and Believe, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, curated by M.G. Tolomeo (2001). Selected group exhibitions: 2006 - Il gioco è fatto, Villa Rufolo, Ravello, curated by A. Bonito Oliva; C’era una volta un Re…..la fiaba contemporanea, ARCOS, Benevento, curated by D. Denegri; 2005 - Superstars The Celebrity Factor. From Warhol to Madonna, Kunsthalle, Wien, curated by G. Matt; Le Opere e i Giorni, Certosa di San Lorenzo, Padula, Salerno, curated by A. Bonito Oliva; Padiglione Italia Out of Biennale, Trevi Flash Art Museum, Trevi; La memoria come religione laica, GNAM –Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, curated by A. Abruzzese, L. Valeriani; 2004 - Ori d’artista, Museo del Corso, Rome, curated by F. R. Morelli; Desrupted Landscapes, BELEF, Belgrade, curated by D. Denegri; 2003 - Melting Pop, Palazzo delle Papesse, Centro Arte Contemporanea, Siena, curated by G. Marziani; 2002 - L’ultima cena, Castel dell’Ovo, Naples; Imprint of nature, Third International Biennal of Gyumri, Armenia; Corporale, Palazzo Piacentini, Centro Arte Contemporanea, S. Benedetto del Tronto, curated by G. Marziani; Antologia Romana, Galleria Bagnai, Siena, curated by D. Bigi, R. Lambarelli; 2001 - Disarming Beauty, Salvador Dalì Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida, curated by S. Ramljak; Art Files, Centro per le Arti Visive “Pescheria”, Pesaro, curated by L. Pratesi, S. Vedovotto; 2000 - Ventana hacia Venus / Window onto Venus, Bienal de La Habana, Cuba; Sui Generis, PAC - Padiglione d’ Arte Contemporanea, Milan; Tirannicidi II, Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rome; Archivio di Stato di Palazzo Reale, Turin, curated by L. Ficacci; WelcHome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, curated by G. Marziani; L’ultimo disegno del 1999, Centro Civico per l’Arte Contemporanea “La Grancia”, Serre di Rapolano, Siena, curated by Zerynthia; The Golden Dream, Verso Sud, Rifugi di Colleferro, Colleferro (RM), curated by Zerynthia.

Image: Ra Di Martino

Opening: 10th of February 2007 at 12 to 16 p.m.

Botkyrka Konsthall
Tumba Torg 105 - Stockholm

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