NICOLA GENOVESE selected works

Transcription

1 NICOLA GENOVESE selected works

2 ONCE UPON A TIME, BEFOREHAND, I DON T KNOW WHEN (2016 ) performance, video on ipad, fabric concrete and resin video documentation For this 4th edition of ON OFF, Nicola Genovese showcases relics of the power structures that supposedly once ran the site on which ON OFF is located. Creating a non-linear history where the digital would have appeared before the analogic, Genovese introduces a fictional past in which the industrial site of Winterthur has become a video game. Overloading the space with an extra layer of time, the artist highlights the longing for authenticity that defines our age. By questioning the modes through which the past is constructed, Genovese challenges the processes of commodification which market the natural and the original as untarnished staples. Setting up an immersive experience for the audience to apprehend the space with new eyes, Genovese explores the connections between power, war and self-improvement. As the visitor enters the exhibition space, a tablet and headphones are handed over to her/him. A voice similar to a museum audio guide, guides the visitor through the fictional history of the room. A computer animated film plays on the screen, it showcases a looped archive of the video game s healing room. Just like an actor, Genovese reenacts in his performance the actions of the avatar preparing for the fight. But who is the opponent? Drawing from the rituals of everyday life, such as yoga or beauty routines, the artist suggests that the enemy today might as well be the decay in our bodies. Working with constructed archive materials from the past, Genovese s installation and performance reinvents the space and highlights the transitions that have occurred on the industrial site of Winterthur, blurring the lines between reality, fiction, fighting and grooming. Anne-Laure Franchette

3

4 LEAK *6 - WHEN BORDERS BURN (2017 ) glazed ceramics, iron, printed fabric with a Stonehenge pattern, concrete, spray paint, padding, wood, polyurethane foam, performance video documentation It s all about geography, territories to defend or rather territories to exploit. And then again the weight of the past, the weight of the ruins, the impossibility to get rid of the origin myth, of the daily rituals. Again, again us, the whites. It s a potential set of weapons, of body fragments, of sex toys. It s a leak, you cannot stop it. It s there, underneath the carpet in the living room. Controlling won t help you. This piece is again an attempt to merge sculptural and performance practice. The installation is an extension of my body, or rather body leaks. I try to question my white male position, my masculinity, through ritualistic movements which are connected to the installation objects.

5

6 STARE AT ME, DROWN WITH ME (2016 ) carpets from Zurich Ebay office, metal, ceramic, wood, silicon, fabric performance The carpets from ebay become the territories where I developed a series of objects connected to a kind of mindfulness practice. The new managment philosophy is based on the caesura between leisure and working time. The idea behind is the achievement of the authentic state of nature in every environment of our everydaylife. The installation during the performance is deconstruct and used as set of percussions, as unexpected stage. I perform an italian song from the eighties called Cobra. This song talk about the idea of rediscovering the inner snake. The t shirt I wear is printed with a famous Ligabue painting where a tiger is fighting with a snake in the northern italy countryside.

7

8 OUTGROWTHS (2017) 7 meters pillow printed with bezoar pattern HD video loop ARTIST IN LAB PROJECT scientist: Kurt Bollmann exhibition view at the zoological museum Zurich Since the very beginning, the symbolic aspects of the ibex attracted my interest. The horns and other parts of its body have been used during the centuries as trophies and magic medecines. Almost exstinguished ue to hunting, and afterward succefully reintroduced and protected in Switzerland as national heritage and mountain icon, the ibex is definitely a cultural product. The other aspect which triggered my curiosity was the competive behaviour and the whole process connected to the establishment of the hierarchy. Males fight in order to have access to females and to defend their territories. The ibex fights become a bridge to talk about the weight of the dna and cultural factors in defining competitive behaviour in human being. The praise of the competition and the narration about the primordial instincts of the human nature is the core of the capitalistic society. I decided to develop a visual displays which embody a reflection on the tension between cultural and biological perspective.

9 YOU WON T NEVER FIND ME (2016 ) 7 minutes video loop wall projection youtube video I put together a Warhammer 4k tutorial and a holiday reportage in Greece, both grabbed from youtube. The soldier from the famous distopian boardgame moves among the ruins while he is acurately painted by a guy. The agressive soldier character clash with the accurate painting process that in some moment erase the colors. The movement of the camera mimics perfectly the video game style but in the same time it creates a disturbing perception of space.

10 LEAKS series ( ) ceramics, pillow, plastic Leaks is an ongoing project focused on ritualistic shapes that emerge from everyday life environments. This group of objects that I am producing right now are inspired by dystopian video game weapons and fragments of dystopian video game characters. It s an attempt to underline the irrational approach of western contemporary societies despite the main role of the scientific vision.

11

12 THE LION SLEEPS TONITE (2015 ) concrete, fabric, plaster, polystyren, cell phone, metal, wood, raw clay, spray paint and silicon on canvas The lion that stands in the heraldry of the city of Zurich is the starting point for a wider reflection on the relationship between the Community and the symbols of power and its identitarian potential. The sculpture is nothing but the deconstruction of the graphical version of the lion. The paintings are made up of several spray paint stencil layers depicting the lion. The idea was to create a sort of home environment where the sculpture interacts with the painting to emphasize the nature of a sleeping symbol. The playlist made by hundreds of versions of the famous theme The Lion Sleeps Tonite activate the installation itsel focusing on the precariousness of the concept of authenticity. The famous song used for the famous Disney film is actually a remake of a traditional African song and is one of the first cases in the history of modern music of litigation related to copyright. I added my personal version of the song with my ukulele.

13

14 WHEN BORDERS LOOK LIKE JELLYFISHES (2015 ) 9 minutes HD video youtube video When borders look like jellyfishes is a reenactment of some of Gauguin s famous Tahiti paintings. The video combines the luscious landscape of the garden of Jung s former house in Bollingen, immersed in the tipically Swiss view over lake Zurich, with a first person voice over narration vividly portraying the experiences of Gauguin s first visit to the island, through excerpts from his Tahitian Journal (1891 3). The piece unveils the exotic approach still currently permeating everyday life and comments on the commodification of the myth of authenticity within a globalized economy. The video is at once an ironic investigation of landscape as well as self portraiture. My presence in the video attempts to exoticise myself and my position as a migrant to Switzerland, while breaking the atavic relationship between nature and femininity.

15 BUFFALO BILL HAS BEEN IN OMEGNA (2015 ) performance I invited these two amazing guys to perform two songs in Lumbard dialect, using my installation as a stage. Buffalo Bill actually has never been in Omegna. In the city archive you can find several documents that prove the visit of Buffalo Bill in 1906 but probably he was a double called Samuel Cody. WAPPEN *9 (2015 ) spray paint and silicone on canvas, plaster, metal, wood and fabric The district of Verbania was invented 10 years ago, but the hieraldry depiction is clearly inspired by the classical medieval motives. I deconstructed the symbols within the district flag. Again, the issue of authenticity and identity are the central topics.

16

17 PAUL GAUGUIN AND THE WHITETRASH (2015 ) concrete and coloured sand I used two toy blisters as cast to produce a concrete mask. Exoticism is again an important topic in my artistic practice.

18 SOLO SHOWS 2015 Art container project (Zurich) The Lion sleeps tonite / 24hproject - curated by Anne Laure Franchette - Tart Gallery (Zurich) 2013 Skins - exhibition text Elisa Tosoni - Station 21 (Zurich) Tomorrow, maybe i will still be the same with Mark Pozlep - curator Daniele Capra A+A (Venice) 2012 Nibiru with Sabina Grasso - text by Francesco Ragazzi Urbano Mars (Milano) It s raining cause I m sad - Kotti shop (Berlin) Darker with the day - text by Francesco Ragazzi Urbano Interno4 (Bologna) 2011 I ve been here before - curators Faxen text by Pietro Rigolo BB15 (Linz Austria) Breathing under - curators Federico Mazzonelli and Silvia Conta UploadArtProject (Trento) 2010 Overtime - curator Valerio Dehò Lab 610 Xl Sovramonte (Belluno) NEXT SHOW Kunstraum Arau solo show GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2017 ZHDK master degree show - curators Judith Welter and Ian Wooldridge Carnage - curator Francesca Brusa - Museum Rietberg (Zurich) Entführung- Zoological Museum (Zurich) 2016 Young lovers at the botanical garden - Schwarzwaldallee (Basel) Jürgen Baumann / Nicola Genovese - curator Anne Laure Franchette - ON OFF (Winterthur) X - Sonnenstube (Lugano) Dilly boys - curator Ian Wooldridge - Reto Ganz (Zurich) 2015 Catch of the year - curator Andreas Marti - Dienstgebaude (Zurich) In your dream I am a landscape - curators Daniele Pezzi and Linda Rigotti - Ateliersi (Bologna) You may deny it but you carry it with you - CARS (Omegna) L esprit d escalier - curator Alice Ginaldi - Dimora Artica (Milano) 2014 AIR Thalwil Residecy project - Thalwil (CH) Catch of the year - curator Andreas Marti - Dienstgebaude (Zurich) Biennale Giovani Artisti - curators Renato Barilli Paolo Granata Guido Bartorelli - Accademia Belle Arti (Bologna) Blue shift- curator Gabriele Tosi - Locale Due (Bologna) 2013 L eta dell utile - curator Francesco Urbano Ragazzi - chiesetta San Ludovico ( Venice) Videoart Yearbook - videoart national selection Chiostro Santa Cristina (Bologna) Sandstorm #2 - curator Caterina Benvegnù Motel B (Brescia) 2012 Sandstorm - curator Caterina Benvegnù Ex Macello (Padova) Mars mission - Geh 8 (Dresda) A poem about a chance meeting - Dolomiti Contemporanne Ex Fabbrica Visibilia (Taibon Belluno) Videoart Yearbook - videoart national selection Chiostro Santa Cristina (Bologna) It Was The Worst Year Of My Life. Part 2 - Mala Galerija Ganes Pratt (Ljubljana Slovenia) 2011 Nicola Genovese/ Mark Požlep - Odprtje razstave Mala Galerija Ganes Pratt (Ljubljana Slovenia) Edge Park - curator Riccardo Caldura Forte Marghera (Mestre Venice) Home Nature - curators Katia Baraldi and Laure Keyrouz Roccagloriosa artist residency(salerno) Condensation - curators Daniele Capra and Elena Tamarro Nuovo Museo (Clauiano Udine) La rincorsa della lepre - curator Massimo Ricciardo, video selection by Vincenzo Estremo and Anna Santamauro (Brolo Messina) Dolomitenhof Resort - curators F.Ragazzi e F.Urbano Dolomiti Contemporanee (Sospirolo Belluno) Contraction - curator Daniele Capra Dolomiti Contemporanee (Sospirolo Belluno) Made in China - curators Daniele Capra and Maura Celant galleria Browning (Asolo Treviso) 2010

19 RESIDENCY 2014 AIR Thalwill (Zurich) 2013 OG9 Rotation Atelier (Zurich) 2011 Salzamt Residency (Linz) Rave Residency with Adrian Paci (Trivignano-Udine) 2010 Stichting BAD (Rotterdam) PROJECT/TALKING/ARTIST BOOK PRESENTATION 2016 Super - ed. #4 (Wien) 2014 Volumes independent Perla Mode (Zurich) 2013 Membra vagavano - workshop with Gian Antonio Gigli ( Torino) Droste Effect site specific magazine curator Vincenzo Estremo 2012 Show Desk - Sottobosco (Venice - Mestre) WBM - Het Wilde Weten (Rotterdam) 2011 Paper Tales - Centro sloveno per l arte contemporanea A+A (Venice)