All posts by Alice

abitare il selvatico

Text and reading in Sette Giorni per Paesaggi – Immaginari del Limite, a project by EN Laboratorio Collettivo. Forth episode “Selvatico” with Antonio De Rossi, Alice Benessia and Umberto Petranca. Available in Italian on storielibere.fm

Testo e lettura in Sette Giorni per Paesaggi – Immaginari del Limite, un progetto di EN Laboratorio Collettivo. Quarto episodio “Selvatico”, con Antonio De Rossi, Alice Benessia e Umberto Petranca. Disponibile su storielibere.fm

italian pdf

english version coming soon

Press Corriere Della Sera – 27esima ora

a sense of lawfulness

a dialogue between art and physics

invited artist / scientist for a public conversation with Cyrilla Mozenter, at the Artist Talk for her solo exhibition “the failed utopian and Other Stories” @ Five Myles Gallery, New York

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A conversation about the correspondence that arises between some theories and laws of physics, some mathematical and geometrical problems— and Cyrilla Mozenter’s work.  The squaring of the circle manifested in a subtle bump on a felt panel, the way in which geometry becomes alive in the multidimensional spaces created by cutting and hand stitching felt, and the energy of the quantum vacuum state in the marks of a drawing become stories to share with a live audience. The sense of inevitability and lawfulness that permeates the world of dynamics and differential geometry applied to physics finds a counterpart in the artwork and its making.

art, science and the meaning of research

open questions for a public dialogue in response to Tim Ingold’s lecture  @ GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna within IperPianalto  by andrea caretto | raffaella spagna

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1) Responsibility, art and science. Being responsible in modern terms has to do with the ability to predict the future consequences of action in order to make good in the present. Science is traditionally in charge of prediction. This idea begins to unravel as we realize that in a complex world the more we learn about the future the more there is to know and the more uncertain the future becomes. Can art making and research become allies to deal with complexity when we are called to act responsibly? John Cage, Joseph Beuys and the ability to respond to uncertainty and unpredictability. How can we learn to respond to the challenges of our times, to correspond with reality –  as scientists, artists and citizens? 2) Science, art and the dynamics of the market. In its etymological sense, art has to do with “moving towards something”, once again evoking a correspondence with the world. What about the practice of contemporary art? what is  still present, what is lost and what is  transformed of this original meaning? how do the dynamics of the market that undermine the curiosity oriented research in science, limit or eradicate the sense of open correspondence in the practice of art making and fruition? 3) Questioning objectivity, certainty and universality in science (and in art).  How do we cope with the inherent uncertainty of our reality? How can we openly value the subjective nature of research while pursuing its inner quality? How can we learn to include wisdom emerging from different forms knowledge, based on sensitivity to experience?

insegnare fotografia – note raccolte

Italian translation of “Teaching photography – notes assembled” by Philip Perkis @ Skinnerboox.

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The object-ness of what is seen. No fast jump to metaphor or symbol. No ‘cultural context’. To soon. Plenty of time for that later. First, the ‘reality’ of light on surface.

L’essere-oggetto di ciò che si vede. Nessun salto veloce a metafore o simboli. Nessun ‘contesto culturale’. Troppo presto. Ci sarà tutto il tempo dopo. Prima, la ‘realtà’ della luce su una superficie.

To experience the meaning of what is. To stay with it for even a few seconds is no small task. The sound of a voice without language, a musical line, a ceramic vessel, a non-objective painting. The presence of it, the weight of it, the miracle of its existence, of my existence. The mystery of the fact itself.

Esperire il significato di ciò che è. Conviverci anche soltanto per pochi secondi non è un compito facile. Il suono di una voce senza linguaggio, una linea musicale, un vaso di ceramica, un dipinto non figurativo. La sua presenza, il suo peso, il miracolo della sua esistenza, il miracolo della mia esistenza. Il mistero del fatto in sé.

tools for conviviality

invited artist / scientist @ Senza casa, senza cosa? by Maurizio Cilli for 999  A collection of questions about contemporary living / Triennale di Milano (2018)

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A reflection on the objects that populate the material and immaterial homes of humans and the tools to make them. An open reading and discussion of texts by Ivan Illich, Tim Ingold and Richard Sennet on relationship between people and their instruments, knowing and making, building and dwelling.

walking pianalto

a collective action across the Altopiano of Poirino from Cambiano to Montà d’Alba

invited artist / scientist  @ IperPianalto  by andrea caretto | raffaella spagna for Fondazione Spinola-Banna per l’Arte and GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea of Torino

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Norwergian philosopher Arne Naess argued that ethics depends on how we experience the world, which in turn depends on the power we have at our disposal. Defined as energy over time, power is a physical variable that influences our perception of distances and how we interact with our outer and inner reality.

A reflection on the use of the body’s metabolic power to experience time and space, through walking.

A collective use of Polaroid with the awareness that picture taking is rooted in our way of being and moving: our physical, mental and emotional posture.

A reading of “speed stunned imagination” from energy and equity by Ivan Illich.

 

the unseen

research and curatorial project @ Progetto Diogene

in collaboration with Michela Depetris, Giulia Gallo, Silvia Margaria, Enrico Partengo, Elena Tortia, Arianna Uda

invited artists: Py & Verde (Sept 20), Pierluigi Fresia (Sept 27) and Cyrilla Mozenter (Oct 4)

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The Unseen explores the process of art making and its relationship with an audience. Finished bodies of work can be thought of as evidence of an invisible, time dependent, physical, intellectual and emotional research. This research remains hidden.

Four artists were invited to reflect on their process and share their hidden exploration. First, within the group of artists who conceived the project, then with an extended audience, in a public event at the Diogene’s tram.

Process happens in a private space and uncovering it requires mutual  trust. For nurturing trust, the group of The Unseen has chosen to invite artists whose life and work were already in close contact with at least one of the members. The separation between the observers (inviting) and the observed (invited) was further dissolved by sharing individual processes, vulnerabilities and aspirations in an open dialogue among all the people involved.

A number of closed meetings were organised over the course of several months, between the spring and the summer of 2017.  It became a process in its own terms. A wide spectrum of common issues – questions, obstacles and ways to overcome them –  emerged across three generations of artists, working in Italy, France, Belgium and the US.

The final events took the form of a series of lectures/performance.