Ruins
dal 6/11/2003 al 30/11/2003
Segnalato da
6/11/2003
Ruins
Transition Gallery, London
"Ruins" is a project baesd on the prints by italian engraver Giovanni Battista Piranesi. In addiction to this new project, Transition present "Souvenir", an exhibition of 100 photos by 100 artist that will be sell
Throughout the eighteenth century the influence of Giovanni Battista
Piranesi was inescapable. His ruins infected the imagination of the
chattering classes across Europe and were a perfect visual match for
the Gothic Romances that were so popular at the time. Ruins is a
selection of highlights from his monumental work of 1776, the Vedute di
Roma. Piranesi was an opportunist, he had created what amounted in his
eyes to little more than a knick-knack for the legions of tourists
passing through the Eternal City on the Grand Tour and he did not see
the production of these souvenirs as a suitable crowning glory for his
life. Pirenasix{2019}s great ambition was to be an architect (something he
had trained to do) and although he never designed a building his
architectural influence has been huge, most visibly through the work of
John Soane.
The image of the ruin was especially popular in the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth century and it is an image that remains resonant
today. The ruin in the modern world more often than not carries the
scars of war. They are objects that have been subjected to violence and
so all the twisted girders and shattered concrete reinforce manx{2019}s sense
of power. Piranesix{2019}s ruins are quieter than this. They have the calm of
the graveyard. These buildings have collapsed not because of a moment
of violence but because of the incessant workings of time. Piranesi
used the tourist trade to illustrate great cycles of mans existence.
The ascent and decline of great empires leave behind them only ruins, a
commonplace truth, but one worth repeating.
In Ruins the curatorial role of the artist Hugo Worthy becomes the art
work, created not so much by the splish-splosh of the paint brush, or
the grinding of power tools, but by selecting, choosing, discerning,
and in the end consolidating that through politicking. He says x{2018}I have
made a simulacrum of a conservative museum exhibition but within the
context of a contemporary spacex{2019}.
Souvenir
Snapshot photos by over 100 artists, curated by Paul Murphy
In association with Photo Month over 100 artists have responded to the
above theme by submitting souvenir snapshots, which will be on sale to
raise money for future Transition projects.
Transition
110a Lauriston Road
London E9
tel. 07941 208566