Olivo Barbieri
07 Apr - 20 May 2006
© Olivo Barbieri
site specific_ROMA 04, 2004
C-print framed under Perspex,
120x168cm
Courtesy of Brancolini Grimaldi Arte Contemporanea, Rome/Florence
site specific_ROMA 04, 2004
C-print framed under Perspex,
120x168cm
Courtesy of Brancolini Grimaldi Arte Contemporanea, Rome/Florence
OLIVO BARBIERI
"Site Specific_"
Olivo Barbieri’s first major solo show in the UK at Bloomberg SPACE
Bloomberg SPACE is showing three films brought together in an exhibition for the first time, alongside six large scale photographs, from Italian artist Olivo Barbieri’s ongoing project site specific_.
Filming from a helicopter on 35mm film and HDV (High Definition Video) Barbieri uses a tilt-shift lens - a technique of selective focus - in order to create an image which seems to contract, recede and expand in unexpected ways until the sense of distance and reality becomes confused. The cities appear like models; industrial sites and historical landmarks are rendered as a new vision, and the city becomes a ghostly version of itself.
Barbieri’s concern with focus and his investigation into the contrast between a clear and ethereal sense of space are revealed in this exhibition. Through the films, he explores the urban landscape and architecture of cities, attempting to see the world as “a temporary site-specific installation,” he wants, “to examine its structures and infrastructures, the foundation of our sense of belonging and our identity”.
site specific_ Roma 04 shows the Italian capital’s famous tourist destinations such as the Coliseum and the Pantheon, contrasted with 1930s public housing, transport systems and the car lots and contemporary buildings on the periphery of the city.
site specific_ Las Vegas 05 begins in the spectacular surrounding desert, moving to the reflecting edifices of hotel and gambling complexes, which in their architecture bring together Venice, Paris and Egypt.
site specific_ Shanghai 04 (A Silent Story) reveals a perpetually evolving city of skyscrapers, industry and housing sprawl fed by its river.
The films present the old world (Rome), new world (Las Vegas) and future world (Shanghai). Shown together they become a trilogy, representing European, American and Asian cities, which offers a questioning overview, an image with a sense of both containment and transience.
Olivo Barbieri was recently included in Universal Experience: Art, Life, and the Tourist’s Eye, curated by Francesco Bonami at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, which toured to the Hayward Gallery, London in 2005.
"Site Specific_"
Olivo Barbieri’s first major solo show in the UK at Bloomberg SPACE
Bloomberg SPACE is showing three films brought together in an exhibition for the first time, alongside six large scale photographs, from Italian artist Olivo Barbieri’s ongoing project site specific_.
Filming from a helicopter on 35mm film and HDV (High Definition Video) Barbieri uses a tilt-shift lens - a technique of selective focus - in order to create an image which seems to contract, recede and expand in unexpected ways until the sense of distance and reality becomes confused. The cities appear like models; industrial sites and historical landmarks are rendered as a new vision, and the city becomes a ghostly version of itself.
Barbieri’s concern with focus and his investigation into the contrast between a clear and ethereal sense of space are revealed in this exhibition. Through the films, he explores the urban landscape and architecture of cities, attempting to see the world as “a temporary site-specific installation,” he wants, “to examine its structures and infrastructures, the foundation of our sense of belonging and our identity”.
site specific_ Roma 04 shows the Italian capital’s famous tourist destinations such as the Coliseum and the Pantheon, contrasted with 1930s public housing, transport systems and the car lots and contemporary buildings on the periphery of the city.
site specific_ Las Vegas 05 begins in the spectacular surrounding desert, moving to the reflecting edifices of hotel and gambling complexes, which in their architecture bring together Venice, Paris and Egypt.
site specific_ Shanghai 04 (A Silent Story) reveals a perpetually evolving city of skyscrapers, industry and housing sprawl fed by its river.
The films present the old world (Rome), new world (Las Vegas) and future world (Shanghai). Shown together they become a trilogy, representing European, American and Asian cities, which offers a questioning overview, an image with a sense of both containment and transience.
Olivo Barbieri was recently included in Universal Experience: Art, Life, and the Tourist’s Eye, curated by Francesco Bonami at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, which toured to the Hayward Gallery, London in 2005.