Untouched gazes

Visiting an exhibition and then describing it almost instinctively, was the task set for Anna Katrina Böger, Marta Ferrarini, Maria Hafner, Nadia Kasslatter, Paola Occhiali and Giacomo Pomelli at Museion after viewing the RENAISSANCE show. Their written reactions formed part of the ‘Writing for art and cultural institutions’ workshop led by Stefano Riba, held in the context of the Spring School 2024, included in the Communication and Cultural Sciences degree course at the University of Bolzano Faculty of Educational Sciences.
This issue of Museion Bulletin is dedicated to the insights of these young people.

“In our generation – and I’m including myself here – we like to capture everything we do, from the daily BeReal to the intricate design on the foam of our morning cappuccino and even our late-night study sessions at the library. And, of course, at the end of the month, we post a collage on our Instagram Stories to show everybody how much we have achieved, experienced and lived. But can we exist no other way? Is our identity intrinsically tied to photographic evidence? Did we really go to that event if there aren’t at least 20 photos of us with 11 different unnatural poses to prove it?

We tend to forget that we can just live in the moment without the proof of it lying – or rather rotting away – in our camera. But if we absolutely have to take a snapshot of a cool new bar we discovered the other weekend, let’s at least do it like Jim C. Nedd and be a little less on the nose about it”.

Maria Hafner

“Suite for Suit” by Davide Stucchi, composed in 2023. A well-chosen title! Imagine those socks being the only suit a piano player would wear. You see, this is art. It goes beyond representation. It has its own aura, that I absolutely enjoy in this moment, standing in front of a piano seat in a new context, making me, the observer, think more than simply “wow, beautiful”. It also makes me reflect on the question, why should a musician even wear a suit when playing a suite in front of an audience? Other questions that pop up in my head are: what inspired the artist to put these elements together? And what is the true message behind this composition?”.

Nadia Kasslatter

“What I see behind the plexiglass, the red Porsche, the beauty products and fabric prints is nothing less than what our society aspires to and what individuals are taught to want. Status symbols that can be bought, items that reflect wealth and success, beauty ideals that need to be obtained, trends that must be followed. My reflection in the mirror is no exception to the desire and portrayal that has been imposed on us by the definition of a standard”.

Anna Katrina Böger

“Afterwards. What happens when this moment comes to an end, and what will the next one be like? Jim C. Nedd’s artwork takes us back to the dimension of something that has already ended, and yet is about to be reborn. So, can we feel nostalgic for an indefinite event, that doesn’t belong to us yet? This photograph seems to breathe while it teeters on the boundary, if it exists, between the future and the past. It is an infinite circle joining two seemingly irreconcilable realities, connected by an eternal relationship of destruction and rebirth.

At first glance, the visual elements suggest the end of a story, of an evening, of a moment. There are shadows that can’t find bodies, cigarette butts that have stopped breathing, dust-filled streets and silent firecrackers. Silence fills every space, like when a party ends and everyone leaves. All that remains are shadows and rubbish, as silence has swallowed up what was previously music, laughter and dancing. Music becomes silence, and past becomes future.

But we can’t abandon the photograph and leave, like the party guests. Something stops and attracts us. We struggle to define it, but it is there, right before our eyes. After all, isn’t it true that a phoenix rises from its own ashes? And isn’t it true, too, that we need silence to hear exactly what music wants to express?

It is an egg, we have noticed a small crack in. An immense energy shakes the work, even while it remains in the silence of a frame. The explosion is only a possibility. It’s not a certainty yet. Perhaps that is what makes it so threatening, and at the same time so beautiful and all-encompassing.

Gunpowder, scattered on the ground, embodies the essence of this image. As what might happen if a new, lit, cigarette butt were to touch it, remains a mystery, just like when the past touches the future”.

Giacomo Pomelli

“A riot of colors and a tribute to the earth, the mother of everyone. A starry sky on a white background is an element familiar to all cultures, shifted to a foreign environment. The brown of the earth, the ochre of the desert, the blue of the sky and the green of the sea. And in between, the scratched grey of rock.
This is an allusion in fabric to the places a migrant may have passed through in their lifetime. Some may be places from their childhood, others, stops in their journey, and others still, from the land that has welcomed them. Bows are stitched in, here and there, perhaps symbolizing the obstacles encountered on the way or the legacy of a past event burnt into memory. A patchwork of different fabrics, or a quilt created from lived experiences, where colors, even while remaining unique, come together, bearing witness to a past that does not disappear, but can be included in the present. Everything is held together by a thread that stretches between different fabrics like an outstretched hand, a bond between cultures, united by an art handed down over the centuries”.

Marta Ferrarini

“What are the chances of this buoy staying afloat and performing the task it was built for? We will never know, as long as it remains grounded on the third floor of the Museion. The curiosity… the desire to throw it into some real water is strong.
But are we really sure we want to conduct this experiment and answer all these questions? How many words does it take for us to understand that this buoy represents us, that it symbolizes the challenges we face every day and how our continued sinking is purely down to us?”.

Paola Occhiali

How can a young generation of artists process their own heavy cultural heritage, when they are shaped by aesthetic and social ‘standards’, values, models, icons or expectations of what an artist is? How can we build on the ruins of the past that continues to cast long shadows?

The RENAISSANCE exhibition presents works by 15 young artists who adopt an interdisciplinary approach to question issues such as cultural heritage, belonging and aesthetic and social ‘standards’.
Curated by Leonie Radine. Until 01.09.2024.