24 August 2013

THE SOLITARY BODY: SELF-PORTRAITURE IN CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY



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IL CORPO SOLITARIO. L’AUTORITRATTO NELLA FOTOGRAFIA CONTEMPORANEA.

Mirko Aretini, Juha Arvid Helminen, Fiorenza Bassetti, Hicham Benohoud, Stefania Beretta, Edo Bertoglio, David Colin Onze, John Coplans, Pier Giorgio De Pinto, Daniele De Vitis, Uri Gershuni, Aneta Grzeszykowska & Jan Smaga, Elke Krystufek, Jon Jacobsen, Andrea La Rocca, Urs Lüthi, Bjørn Melhus, Bruce Nauman, Paolo Ravalico Scerri, Dorothee von Rechenberg, Silvano Repetto, Mustafa Sabbagh, Fabrizio Sacchetti, Richard Sawdon Smith, Chiara Scarfò, Valter Luca Signorile, Alessandra Spranzi, Annelies Štrba, Eduardo Tachado, David Trullo, Marco Villani, Natale Zoppis

Vernissage__sabato 14 settembre 2013 dalle 17:30

14 settembre – 10 novembre 2013 / ve-sa-do_14:00-18:00


John River Coplans (1920-2003), Self Portrait (Side Torso Bent With Large Upper Arm), 1985. Courtesy Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zürich


Con la mostra titolata IL CORPO SOLITARIO. L’AUTORITRATTO NELLA FOTOGRAFIA CONTEMPORANEA, il MACT/CACT riprende, dopo anni di quasi assoluta secessione dalla fotografia, una mostra proprio sulla fotografia, di cui IL CORPO SOLITARIO potrebbe costituire l’inizio di un ciclo tematico.
Ispirata a una recente pubblicazione antologica di Giorgio Bonomi, l’approccio curatoriale segue quasi alla lettera i contenuti del titolo, attenendosi alle linea tematica del MACT/CACT, nonché ai criteri della rappresentazione pura in ambito fotografico.
Dopo un periodo storico, in cui la ‘Düsseldorfer Schule’ dava forma a una nuova scuola di pensiero in ambito della fotografia, è stato per noi difficile, da allora, ritrovare un nuovo terreno di ricerca fertile e convincente, che potesse ricondursi ad una qualsiasi forma di avanguardia. I cambiamenti, che già da qualche anno stanno dando una nuova connotazione e morfologia alla società che cambia, non risparmiano neppure le arti e l’espressione socio-culturale attraverso la creazione artistica. Se da un lato il secondo Novecento ha tentato in tutti i modi di frammentare l’uomo e le sue forme mentali, portando a paradossali forme d’arte e non già a un’estetica dell’arte (tranne forse l’espressione di una qualsivoglia militanza), la società civile abbandonata da quella istituzionale crea – anche in ambito artistico – una nuova estetica della fotografia, maggiormente legata a forme figurative e facilmente ricollegabili alla storia della pittura. L’intermediazione di configurazioni telematiche socialmente condivise quali Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram (soprattutto Facebook) hanno inevitabilmente dato origine non già a nuove, ma a rinnovate concezioni dell’immagine, puntualizzando pure che – in tale stato di nemesi storica – l’arte ancora attinge all’intelligenza del passato, anziché fungere, come lo fu per lunghi periodi, da modello e ispirazione per le arti applicate e altre forme di creatività parallela. Il fenomeno, tuttavia, è da studiare e sicuramente la fotografia di moda, così come molti spot pubblicitari, è altresì – se non di più – ‘bella’ dell’arte cosiddetta pura.



Bjørn Melhus (1966), Das Zauberglas, Video, 1991, 6'00'', Videostill. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Anita Beckers Frankfurt.

Nello specifico di questa esposizione, si constata viepiù la presenza di nuovi autori, che arrivano, appunto, dalla fotografia commerciale; in particolare dall’ambito della moda, dove l’esecuzione è pregna di virtuosismo tecnico e di totale compiacimento. Tuttavia, anche questo ambito tenta di lambire l’arte pura e l’arroganza del mezzo: una nuova tendenza che influenza gli ultimi artisti a ritrovare un segnale artistico, pur attraversando l’estetica dettata dalla macchina e dall’apparato commerciale. Genere, identità, travestitismo e (s)mascheramento sono i temi fondamentali di questa mostra, che punta al corpo svelato nei suoi molteplici significati.

Mario Casanova, 2013


MAC/CACT è sostenuto finanziariamente e culturalmente da Repubblica e Cantone del Ticino - Swisslos, MIGROS percento culturale, Alfred Richterich Stiftung Kastanienbaum, Anke Sybille Hagemann Cham, Amici del MACT/CACT, Città di Bellinzona, gli artisti.


Un ringraziamento particolare va a Galerie Peter Kilchmann Zürich, Diego Cassina Art Advisory Lugano e a Collezionisti e Artisti, che hanno reso possibile la realizzazione dell’esposizione, prestando gentilmente le loro opere.



David Trullo (1969), Caught lying, 2007. Copyright David Trullo.


THE SOLITARY BODY: SELF-PORTRAITURE IN CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY.

Mirko Aretini, Juha Arvid Helminen, Fiorenza Bassetti, Hicham Benohoud, Stefania Beretta, Edo Bertoglio, David Colin Onze, John Coplans, Pier Giorgio De Pinto, Daniele De Vitis, Uri Gershuni, Aneta Grzeszykowska & Jan Smaga, Elke Krystufek, Jon Jacobsen, Andrea La Rocca, Urs Lüthi, Bjørn Melhus, Bruce Nauman, Paolo Ravalico Scerri, Dorothee von Rechenberg, Silvano Repetto, Mustafa Sabbagh, Fabrizio Sacchetti, Richard Sawdon Smith, Chiara Scarfò, Valter Luca Signorile, Alessandra Spranzi, Annelies Štrba, Eduardo Tachado, David Trullo, Marco Villani, Natale Zoppis

Vernissage__Saturday 14 September 2013 at 5.30 p.m.

14 September – 10 November 2013 / Fri-Sat-Sun_2.00-6.00 p.m.




Edo Bertoglio (1951), The Popper’s, 1975. Copyright Edo Bertoglio.

With the exhibition entitled THE SOLITARY BODY: SELF-PORTRAITURE IN CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY, the MACT/CACT is breaking an eight-year record of almost complete absence from photography to stage an exhibition, THE SOLITARY BODY, that focuses very much on this field and could well constitute the first in a new thematic cycle.
Drawing its inspiration from a recent anthological publication by Giorgio Bonomi, the approach adopted by the curator follows the line laid down by the title almost to the letter, keeping faith both with the thematic policy at MACT/CACT and with the criteria of pure representation in photography.



Aneta Grzeszykowska (1974) & Jan Smaga (1974), Anetka burning, 2007. Private collection, Switzerland.

After a period in the past when the Düsseldorf School gave shape to a new vein of thought in photography, we had a certain difficulty in finding a new terrain of research that would be both fertile and convincing and could link back to some (any) form of avant-garde. The changes that have already been giving a new connotation and morphology to evolving society for several years now make no exception for the arts or for socio-cultural expression through artistic creativity. While on the one hand the twentieth century did everything in its power to shatter man and his mindsets, leading to paradoxical art forms and not to an aesthetic of art (except possibly for the expression of any militancy), civil society abandoned by its institutional counterpart created – also in the area of art – a new aesthetic of photography, more closely linked to figurative forms and easily traceable to the history of painting. The mediation of such internet-based social media as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Instagram (but above all Facebook) has inevitably generated not so much new as renewed conceptions of imagery, while also stressing that – in this condition of historical nemesis – art still draws on the intelligence of the past, rather than acting as a model and source of inspiration for the applied arts and other forms of parallel creativity, as it did for long periods in the past. This is a phenomenon that is deserving of study, however, and fashion photography, along with many advertising shots, is also as beautiful as the art that is considered to be ‘pure’ – if not more so.
In the specific case of this exhibition, there is moreover a notable fielding of new artists, who come from a background of commercial photography (and not by coincidence), in particular from the area of fashion, where technically virtuoso execution and total satisfaction are of the essence. Even so, this field, too, attempts to brush up against pure art and the arrogance of its medium: a new trend that is influencing the latest artists to discover an artistic signal, even while they are in the act of translating an aesthetic that is dictated by the camera and the commercial business world. Genres, identities, transvestism and (un)masking are the crucial issues at stake in this exhibition, which focuses on the body unveiled, with all its multiple meanings.

Mario Casanova, 2013 [translation Pete Kercher]



MACT/CACT Switzerland is supported financially and culturally by Repubblica e Cantone del Ticino / Swisslos, MIGROS percento culturale, Alfred Richterich Stiftung Kastanienbaum, Anke Sybille Hagemann Cham, City of Bellinzona, Friends of MACT/CACT, the artists.

Special thank go to Galerie Peter Kilchmann Zürich, Diego Cassina Art Advisory Lugano and to the Collectors and Artists who made this exhibition possible by kindly lending their works.



David Colin Onze, Série noire, 2013. Copyright David Colin Onze.


Bring Your Own Beamer (BYOB) at Haus für elektronische Künste Basel

































Bring Your Own Beamer (BYOB)
House of Electronic Arts Basel
raumD, Oslostrasse 12, 4142 Basel/Münchenstein
24 August 2013, as part of the Oslo Night, from 6 p.m.


BYOB is a one-night-only exhibition initiated by Rafaël Rozendaal (*1980). Realized for the first time in Berlin in 2010, over 80 BYOB events have taken place all over the world, in cities like Paris, London, Manchester, Boston or New York City.

The event only takes place during one night and its unique DIY-style attracts both local and international artists who enjoy experimenting with film and new media. Organized by the House of Electronic Arts Basel, BYOB Basel will be the first staging of the event in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

As part of the Oslo Night 2013




















BYOB Basel is staged as part of the Oslo Night, a one-night festival at the Dreispitz site that first took place in September 2012 as a collaboration with all cultural institutions situated at Oslostrasse. These include the House of Electronic Arts Basel, the art space OSLO10, OSLO 8 contemporary photography, the international artist exchange programme iaab, Radio X and the photo laboratory Pascale Brügger and TRISUL.
On August 24, 2013, the actors at Oslostrasse will once again open their doors to a wide public and turn the street into a festival site. Exhibitions, performances, workshops, concerts and a party are planned, touching upon the subject of “web culture” and the “sharing phenomenon” and also celebrating the transformation of a former industrial area into a cultural hub.



04 August 2013

WRITING WITH STYLE / KÖPFE UND: ANOTHER WAY OF PORTRAYING @ MACT/CACT Suisse 2013


WRITING WITH STYLE
Donato Amstutz, Alex Hanimann, Ivano Sossella, Christian Vetter
29 June-25 August 2013

KöPFE UND: ANOTHER WAY OF PORTRAYING
Eva Aeppli, Katia Bassanini, Selina Baumann, Giona Bernardi, Martin Disler, David Hockney, Andrea La Rocca, Mustafa Sabbagh, Valter Luca Signorile, Stéphane Zaech, Christian Zucconi

29 June-25 August 2013



All photos by Pier Giorgio De Pinto © PRO LITTERIS / Zürich