Landscapes Between Eternities (2018)
Publisher: DISTANZ
Language: English
Format: 22,5 x 32 cm
ISBN:978-3-95476-227-9
Features:
112 pages
96 colour images
soft cover
Accompanied by a text by curator and philosopher Simona Squadrito.
Part of the Book Collection REPLICA, Villa Vertua Masolo Bice Bugatti Club, Milan, Italy
Book Exhibition: Les Recontres d’Arles, Arles & Buchmesse Franfurt
Consisting of 69 portraits and 28 still lifes, the book wishes to captivate cultural impurities and per- turbing syncretism through the juxtaposition of bodies and objects, declaring the idea of a certain decency which generally governs the arrangement of symbols, objects and images null and void.
At a time when the edge of mainstream feels dulled by the forced pursuit of becoming socially standardised, consumer-friendly and marketable, this work aims to delegitimize, and later dislocate the normative structures by injecting the disruptive power of non-confrmity back into the discus- sion of difference.
The depicted subjects were chosen in accordance with their strong and resilient personalities and personas. Through unpremeditated and intuitive creation - realized without the use of computer generated imagery - the attempt is to deconstruct and reassess the perceived “self” in an investi- gation of the body as a landscape and space for political imagination.
Circulating in a transitional reality, elements previously captured in conservation phases are set free and unexpected new combinations start to emerge. The created potentiality, the ‘back loop’, offers an invitation to re-imagine new forms for our being in the world.
Strange objects that seem to belong to another realm adorn the bodies; yet they are nothing but everyday objects, debris picked up from the streets, found in chaotic flea markets. They are mainly trivial objects devoid of any apparent intrinsic beauty. Refusing to fulfil their formal purpose or ac- complish their function, they symbolize a radical challenge against common directives through; the enhancement of fragmentation, the bizarre match, or the deliberately made out of place.
Images of sculptural assemblages that materialize throughout the book, further exercise instinc- tive automatic reassembly of the objects. Reminiscing virtual landscapes, these still lifes suggest a near-future that is more fluid and mesmerising than our fixed and conventional present.
Intersex beings - non-binary and transitional figures - emerge armed for survival and adaptation to the neoliberal strategies of exploitation, now fully ingrained, within information and communiaction technologies. Their ‘synthetic selves’ circulating in ceasely commodifying social networks trans- gress gender, race, canons of beauty and the sublime.
In their anarchic and subversive way of portraying human beings, these images might turn into use- ful tools - in terms of an epistemological horizon - for cultural studies of our times. Most importantly however, they wish to exist as a space for reflection, empowerment and transformative action.
The book appears first and foremost as a visual and thematic foundation and catalyst for successive artistic explorations developing under the umbrella of _landscapes_.
Besides continued creative and theoretical engagement with the portrayed characters and their various practices, we wish to facilitate new cross-disciplinary collaborations stimulating a wider discourse.