Elisabetta Benassi
11 May - 30 Jun 2010
ELISABETTA BENASSI
“All I Remember”
May 11th – June 30th 2010
Opening: Tuesday May 11th 19:00h
Magazzino is pleased to announce All I Remember, Elisabetta Benassiʼs second solo exhibition in the gallery, opening on Tuesday May 11th and on view through June 30th 2010. Elisabetta Benassi has chosen All I Remember, the title of an unpublished novel by Gertrude Stein, to bear witness to the realization of an endeavour begun three years ago. In that time, the artist has started to assimilate a library of images of the backs of photographs drawn from the annals of Italian and international press archives. These images contain, among other information, an abundance of captions, dates, archival references, and handwritten notes essential for the publication of the photographs.
The backs of these photographs—themselves images, though primarily textual—shape an archive-in-progress in which scenes of grand Historical importance are intermixed with others from everyday news. Together, they create an unusual portrait of the 20th century; one that can only be imagined via the words that describe it. The artist deprives the viewer of the photographic image, and with it, the value of the image as a imulacrum; the ʻimages without imagesʼ are presented via a modified microfiche viewer entitled Memorie di un cieco (memories of a blind man) and invite the viewer down a path through a new iconology of the 20th century.
In another room of the gallery, the artist presents Them, a series of watercolours portraying the backsides of a selection of these archival photographs. These images are reproduced manually in a manner that is both manic and exact. The method functions as a mechanism for reconstructing memory, detached from any iconographic aspect — a diversion within the formation process of our imagery.
Finally, a Morse-code lamp used to send signals between warships projects coded messages from the gallery to the street outside, reconnecting the exhibition space to an everyday space — the ʻaheadʼ that we left behind upon entering.
The exhibition is accompanied by an interview by Cloe Piccoli and a critical contribution by Andrea Cortellessa.
Elisabetta Benassi is born in Rome in 1966. She lives and works in Rome. She is wiedely recognized in the national and international panorama by her participation in several exhibition that include CUE: Artists’ Videos, Vancouver Artgallery, Vancouver (Vancouver 2010) • Italian Open, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (Amsterdam 2009) • Art|40|Unlimited (Basel 2009) • Fuori centro,Hangar Bicocca, Milano, (Milano 2009) • I Have a Date with Outer Space, Fondazione Merz, Torino. (Torino 2009) • Dai tempo al tempo, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Guarene d’Alba, (Guarene 2008) • Mimétisme, Extra City for Contemporary Art, Antwerpen (Antwerpen 2008) • 15 Quadriennale, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma (Roma 2008) • Site Specific 2. Dopo l’uragano Jorge, Museo Man (Nuoro 2007) • annisettanta il decennio lungo del secolo breve, Triennale di Milano (Milano 2007) • Constellations, Artissima Lingotto (Torino 2006) • Highlights from the KunstFilmBiennale Köln, KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Berlin 2006) • Human Game. Winner and Losers/Vincitori e vinti, Fondazione Pitti Discovery, (Firenze 2006) • Italy Made in Art: Now, MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art (Shanghai 2006) • Sequence 2#, Mirage, Random Gallery (Paris 2005) • KunstFilmBiennale Cologne, International Competition Museum Ludwig (Colonia 2005) • Drive, Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Bologna (Bologna 2005) • Prospectif Cinéma, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre George Pompidou (Parigi 2005) • Italian Landscape Videozone, II Biennale Internazionale di Videoarte (Tel Aviv 2004) • I nuovi mostri: Una storia italiana, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi (Milano, Venezia 2004) • MACRO Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma (Roma 2004) • I moderni/The Moderns, Castello di Rivoli (Torino 2003) • American Academy in Rome, (Roma 2003) • Moltitudini–Solitudini Museion (Bolzano 2003) • Manifesta 4 (Francoforte 2002) • II Berlin Biennale (Berlin 2001) • P.S.1 New York, Special Projects (New York 2000). Her works have been published in the anthology Cream 3, edited by Phaidon.
“All I Remember”
May 11th – June 30th 2010
Opening: Tuesday May 11th 19:00h
Magazzino is pleased to announce All I Remember, Elisabetta Benassiʼs second solo exhibition in the gallery, opening on Tuesday May 11th and on view through June 30th 2010. Elisabetta Benassi has chosen All I Remember, the title of an unpublished novel by Gertrude Stein, to bear witness to the realization of an endeavour begun three years ago. In that time, the artist has started to assimilate a library of images of the backs of photographs drawn from the annals of Italian and international press archives. These images contain, among other information, an abundance of captions, dates, archival references, and handwritten notes essential for the publication of the photographs.
The backs of these photographs—themselves images, though primarily textual—shape an archive-in-progress in which scenes of grand Historical importance are intermixed with others from everyday news. Together, they create an unusual portrait of the 20th century; one that can only be imagined via the words that describe it. The artist deprives the viewer of the photographic image, and with it, the value of the image as a imulacrum; the ʻimages without imagesʼ are presented via a modified microfiche viewer entitled Memorie di un cieco (memories of a blind man) and invite the viewer down a path through a new iconology of the 20th century.
In another room of the gallery, the artist presents Them, a series of watercolours portraying the backsides of a selection of these archival photographs. These images are reproduced manually in a manner that is both manic and exact. The method functions as a mechanism for reconstructing memory, detached from any iconographic aspect — a diversion within the formation process of our imagery.
Finally, a Morse-code lamp used to send signals between warships projects coded messages from the gallery to the street outside, reconnecting the exhibition space to an everyday space — the ʻaheadʼ that we left behind upon entering.
The exhibition is accompanied by an interview by Cloe Piccoli and a critical contribution by Andrea Cortellessa.
Elisabetta Benassi is born in Rome in 1966. She lives and works in Rome. She is wiedely recognized in the national and international panorama by her participation in several exhibition that include CUE: Artists’ Videos, Vancouver Artgallery, Vancouver (Vancouver 2010) • Italian Open, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam (Amsterdam 2009) • Art|40|Unlimited (Basel 2009) • Fuori centro,Hangar Bicocca, Milano, (Milano 2009) • I Have a Date with Outer Space, Fondazione Merz, Torino. (Torino 2009) • Dai tempo al tempo, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Guarene d’Alba, (Guarene 2008) • Mimétisme, Extra City for Contemporary Art, Antwerpen (Antwerpen 2008) • 15 Quadriennale, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma (Roma 2008) • Site Specific 2. Dopo l’uragano Jorge, Museo Man (Nuoro 2007) • annisettanta il decennio lungo del secolo breve, Triennale di Milano (Milano 2007) • Constellations, Artissima Lingotto (Torino 2006) • Highlights from the KunstFilmBiennale Köln, KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Berlin 2006) • Human Game. Winner and Losers/Vincitori e vinti, Fondazione Pitti Discovery, (Firenze 2006) • Italy Made in Art: Now, MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art (Shanghai 2006) • Sequence 2#, Mirage, Random Gallery (Paris 2005) • KunstFilmBiennale Cologne, International Competition Museum Ludwig (Colonia 2005) • Drive, Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Bologna (Bologna 2005) • Prospectif Cinéma, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre George Pompidou (Parigi 2005) • Italian Landscape Videozone, II Biennale Internazionale di Videoarte (Tel Aviv 2004) • I nuovi mostri: Una storia italiana, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi (Milano, Venezia 2004) • MACRO Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma (Roma 2004) • I moderni/The Moderns, Castello di Rivoli (Torino 2003) • American Academy in Rome, (Roma 2003) • Moltitudini–Solitudini Museion (Bolzano 2003) • Manifesta 4 (Francoforte 2002) • II Berlin Biennale (Berlin 2001) • P.S.1 New York, Special Projects (New York 2000). Her works have been published in the anthology Cream 3, edited by Phaidon.