Suspense. Suspended Sculptures
2010
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Suspense. Suspended sculptures, curated by Lorenzo Giusti and Arabella Natalini, the catalogue explores the concept of “suspension” in relation to contemporary sculptural languages.
The term “suspended” also refers to various three-dimensional works, most of which are not floor-standing, that privilege empty space over mass, lightness over weight, movement over stability. What the exhibition seeks to explore is a widespread phenomenon, the origin of which can be traced back to some examples from avant-garde tradition, from constructivism to surrealism, and in particular to Calder’s mobiles.
The lack of philosophical certainties and political or religious ideologies, running parallel to a rising awareness of the limitations of “progress” and accompanied by a strengthening demand for sobriety and subtlety, contributed to an exponential increase in the creation of slight, precarious or ephemeral works, many of which now share the characteristic of suspension. In fact, a significant segment of contemporary sculptural production has not only abandoned the pedestal, but has radically freed itself from any sort of attachment to the ground.
Explored through individual experiences over the course of the 20th century, in this past decade the practice of “suspension” became a distinctive element of the poetics of numerous artists. The exhibition will present a group of suspended or projecting works characterized by a general rejection of any stable or pre-set form – works that suggest the idea of a possible manipulation or a probable interchange, even as their three-dimensionality and spatiality maintain a solid bond with the idea of sculpture, albeit a mutated one.
The group of artists invited to participate in the show, all of whom share this attitude toward sculptural suspension, convey numerous and varied communicative aims: the common characteristics of lightness, dynamism, anti-monumentality and instability of the works presented at EX3 qualify them as true linguistic devices intended to elicit multiple reactions and reflections.
Artists: Alexandra Bircken (Germany, 1967), Beth Campbell (USA, 1971), Daniela De Lorenzo (Italy, 1959), Claire Morgan (Ireland, 1980), Franco Menicagli (Italy, 1968), Ernesto Neto (Brazil, 1964), Jorge Pardo (Cuba, 1963), Cornelia Parker (UK, 1959), Tobias Putrih (Slovenia, 1972), Tobias Rehberger (Germany, 1966), Tomas Saraceno (Argentina, 1973), Bojan Šarčevid (Bosnia 1974), Hans Schabus (Austria, 1970), Luca Trevisani (Italy, 1979), Pae White (USA, 1963), Hector Zamora (Mexico, 1974).
Damiani Editore
BuyDate
August 25, 2010