Olala! I’m ridiculously late with the remains of my reports from the Artissima art fair which took place in Turin last November. I posted a couple of quick stories a while back then got on a plane and left catalogues, scraps of papers, hasty notes and memories home. I know new year’s resolutions are made never to be respected, but i do hope 2011 will see some form of organization in the way i schedule my reports.
Photo: Max Tomasinelli
The last edition of Artissima was good. But then i’d usually say such thing because i love art fairs. The booth ladies always wear fancy, sexy attires, none of them has ever heard about the existence of art blogs, i see free booze in my fancy press bag, the concept of a fair makes it possible to ask questions you’d never dare to ask in a gallery or museum, and there are more artworks than even i can absorb. The event this year took place at at the comfortable and luminous Oval – a pavilion built for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin.
I got lost on my way to the venue
Once i finally got to the fair, a wealth of information awaited me at the entrance of the bathroom
Artissima offered dance shows, performances, mega structures made of trash (see Artissima – the House of Contamination) and a few young galleries and artists i was happy to discover. This post will focus on the installations i found particularly striking:
One of the most amazing, yet simple, works at the art fair was a light projection by Ulrich Vogl. Neatly aligned projectors from all brands and sizes were casting onto the wall of the booth slide images that, seen together, suggested the night-time skyline of a distant metropolis.
Ulrich Vogl, O.T., 2010, Courtesy of the Artist and Opdahl, Stavanger, Berlin
Ulrich Vogl, O.T., 2010, Courtesy of the Artist and Opdahl, Stavanger, Berlin
In 1997 Carl Michael von Hausswolf initiated a series of works under the title “Operations of Spirit Communication”, inspired by his research on Electronic Voice Phenomena techniques. His ready-made machines were showing the possibilities of ghosts and other kinds of life forms living inside a certain space or inside the electricity grids. Unfortunately for me the lovely person in charge of the Niklas Belenius booth was a friend of the gallerist and he could not give me much information about this particular piece. He merely gave me the name of the artist and had me press a couple of buttons.
Superflex was showing the Anti-Piracy Machine, from its Free beer / Counter game strategies series. Anti-Piracy Machine models the struggle against counterfeit goods. One player (the ‘pirate’) places bootleg material (represented by potatos) into the marketplace (represented by the launching tube). The other player (the ‘police’) uses the subtle and finely-tuned instrument of the law (represented here by a hammer) to remove pirate material from circulation. Five points to the pirate for every potato missed, one point to the police for every potato hit.
Superflex, Free beer / Counter game strategies (anti piracy machine), 2006. Courtesy Enrico Astuni, Bologna
Niklas Belenius’s booth (again!) had photo documentation of John Duncan‘s installation The Rage Room, part of The Dream House in which each room is specifically designed to evoke a specific state of consciousness.
John Duncan, Rage Room, 2010. Courtesy Niklas Belenius, Stockholm
Susan Norrie‘s stunning video installation was dedicated to the people of Porong and East Java who are battling the biggest mud volcano in the world. In 2006, an eruption at the Banjar Panji 1 gas and oil drilling well created an environmental disaster in the region that continues to this day. Company officials claimed that a distant earthquake had triggered the eruption; others believed that the catastrophe was primarily due to the mining company’s operational negligence.
Susan Norrie, Havoc, 2006-2008. Giorgio Persano Gallery
Susan Norrie, still from Havoc, 2006-2008
Susan Norrie, still from Havoc, 2006-2008
Susan Norrie, still from Havoc, 2006-2008
The toxic fumes spreading from the well include hydrogen sulphide, which causes long-term neurological and physical effects. The mudslide inundated villages, leaving more than tens of thousands of people homeless. It is expected that the flow will continue for the next 30 years.
Susan Norrie, still from Havoc, 2006-2008
Susan Norrie, still from Havoc, 2006-2008
Lou Reed lighting a cigarette on the first track, side one, of the LP Take No Prisoners, recorded live at the Bottom Line, New York, May 1978. The sound is played through a microphone connected to the headphones output of a 1970s reel-to-reel tape recorder.
Pavel Büchler, Lou Reed live, 2008
And a very happy new year to you dear readers.
Previously: Artissima – the House of Contamination and Artissima, first images.