During the Salone del Mobile 2014, Marsèlleria presents OROBORO a exhibition that puts Carlo Zanni’s works in dialogue with a selection of design items created by designers Raw-Edges, Ilaria Innocenti and Giorgia Zanellato and by producer Mirko Rizzi spanning the three floors of Marsèlleria. The exhibition unfolds as a journey towards three key concepts: birth, life, and death of the individual; identity formation and development in relation to others; political tension and participation. Oroboro, the snake that eats its own tail, symbolizes the cyclical nature of things and, in alchemy, it stands for an infinite process.
The dialectical relation between Carlo Zanni’s digitally produced works and the design pieces provides a meeting ground where «immaterial» artworks and handmade objects coexist. The exhibition layout is designed so as to convey an innovative approach to collecting video art through the artist’s works: the use of multiple channels of distribution allows for low-priced, potentially limitless editions with no artist’s signature suitable for a wider circulation and accessible by a larger public.
The ViBo (Video Book) enjoys all these features. It is a case resembling both a book and a digipak holding a screen where videos and digital works are shown, such as Self-Portrait With Dog (2008), Iterating My Way Into Oblivion (2010), Self-Portrait With Friends (the lazy bums) (2012), The Sandman (2013). The ViBos are mounted on Adobe, desk accessories created by Ilaria Innocenti and moulded after the handmade process of clay brick making.
Works and objects selected by the artist are exhibited on eight tables realized by Mirko Rizzi in keeping with Enzo Mari’s rules of Autoprogettazione (Self-design). Standing on Plaid Bench, a structure designed by Raw-Edges, is Carlo Zanni’s latest installation Atlas (2014), consisting of a number of white paper sheets flecked with black dots. Each dots indicates a US military base located in Italy so that connecting the dots generates a portrait of the country different from its geographical shape.
Giorgia Zanellato’s Balloon lantern lights up Zanni’s tictactoe (loser), a work based on the free distribution of email spam the artist received by curator Dan Cameron that aims to expose the flaws of email protection systems under hacking attacks. Designed by Ilaria Innocenti, the room divider Armando e Lia becomes a screen for projecting the video my country is a Living Room (2010), a «surrealist» poetry composed with the automatic text editing tool Google Scribe (no longer available): all Google’s suggestions were accepted after typing one word or just a few letters.
Committed to the logic of open-source, self-production 2.0, copyleft and to the idea that contemporary art and design elude system of mass production and distribution, Zanni presents the video Koh-i-N∞r featuring an unreleased piece of music by Moby, commercially licensed from the revolutionary project mobygratis that offers over 150 tracks for free. If the material is used on a for-profit project, part of the proceeds will go to the Humane Society, an animal protection organization. The exhibition is accompanied by a critical text by Laura Barreca. (from the press release)
Carlo Zanni was born in La Spezia (Italy) in 1975. Since the early 2000’s his practice involves the use of Internet data to create time based social consciousness experiences investigating our life. Zanni’s practice finds its roots in Sol Lewitt’s artist statement, «The idea becomes a machine that makes the art», which he translates into a contemporary adaptation, “The idea becomes the code that renders the art.” Carlo Zanni has shown worldwide in galleries and museums including: Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; New Museum, New York; Tent, Rotterdam; MAXXI, Rome; P.S.1, New York; Borusan Center, Istanbul; ACAF Space, Alexandria; PERFORMA 09, NY; ICA, London; Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh; Science Museum, London. He founded PeopleFromMars.org to experiment new distribution models for video art and new media projects.
This official collaboration between Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay started after many years of sharing life, thoughts and ideas. Yael’s main focus includes turning two-dimensional sheet materials into curvaceous functional forms, whereas Shay is fascinated by how things move, function and react. Since their graduation show at the Royal College of Art in 2006, they have received several highly respected awards including The British Council Talented Award, iF Gold Award, Dutch Design Award, Wallpaper* Design Award 2009 and the Elle Decoration International Design Award for best furniture of 2008_09 and awarded as the Designer of the Future for 2009 from Design Miami/ Basel. Their works have been exhibited internationally and can be found within the permanent collection of the MoMA New-York and other museums. They for clients including Cappellini, Established & Sons, Moroso, Kvadrat, Stella McCartney, Arco, Mutina, Lema and in addition, Yael & Shay produce from time to time unique and limited-edition designs and installations within their own studio in London. Their work has been featured in many major design publications and newspapers worldwide. During the Milan Design Week 2014, Raw-Edges will present Islands, the new projects installation for Caesarstone at Palazzo Crivelli, Brera District.
Born in 1983, lives in Milan where he worked in the area of product and interior design. In 2005 she graduated with honors at the IED in Milan and with some classmates founds Studiomorinn. In 2010 participates for the first time at Fuorisalone and from here she begins his research work on a decorative language: a complete creative process to find the perfect balance between the free-hand drawing, texture and craftsmanship. Since January 2013 she is the art director of Karpeta, a company specialized in the production of handmade carpets and furthermore she collaborates with other companies in the area of furniture and complements and she self-produces her own line of homeware with the brand ilaria.i. This year at the Salone del Mobile in 2014 she will be in Ventura Lambrate with OVERLAY, a collection of containers made of terracotta and epoxy resin inside the event Another Perspective 2 | Another Detail, she will be exhibiting at the Triennale Design Museum with some pieces of its production. (AUTO SELF – The Italian Design Between Autarky, Austerity and Self-production, curated by Beppe Finessi).
Born in Venice, Italy, in 1987, Giorgia Zanellato graduated from the IUAV of Venice in September 2009. In October of the same year, she moved to Switzerland where she started a Master in Product Design at ECAL (Lausanne) that she ends in july 2011 presenting the collection of vase «Narciso.» In october 2011 she joined Fabrica, the Benetton Research Center, where she is actually working as a product designer. Giorgia is been working as a freelance designer as well for different companies and galleries such as the french brand «Petite Friture» and the italian art gallery Galleria Luisa Delle Piane. Her designs have been exhibited at Milan Furniture Fair, Maison et Objet, MUDAM Museum (Luxemburg), Miami Art Basel, London Design Festival and others.
Convinced that style is a global cultural practice, averse to pigeon-holing, Mirko Rizzi shifts easily between roles. If the mix of languages is the essence of the contemporary scenario, Rizzi’s daily practice is a practical application of the assumption. Mirko Rizzi turns concepts into esthetic, using the latter as communication tools. He handles the immaterial making it consistent. Dryness, concentration, passion and involvement are the key to his language. Rizzi’s work speaks of borderless creativity, authenticity and radicalism, without rhetoric. All power goes to the imagination because reality is a product of fantasy. Mirko Rizzi directs campaigns, curates spaces and generally invents. He is the lens-man behind the Marsèll advertising campaigns, starring not-yet-known artists, and programs the activities of Marsèlleria Permanent Exhibition, the multi-disciplinary platform he created in 2009. He is also the mind behind Gabbianacci, the ever-changing gallery-shop opened in 2011 on via Cadore. If you want to define him, he is a concept designer. With no pomp and circumstances.
images
(cover) Carlo Zanni, KITZ + OF, 2014 (1) Carlo Zanni, Iterating My Way Into Oblivion, still from video, 2010 (2) Carlo Zanni, Self Portrait With Friends (i fannulloni), 2012 (3) Carlo Zanni, The Sandman ViBo,2014, video-artist book, open front (4) Raw-Edges, Plaid Bench, Dilmos Milano, 2011 (5) IlariaInnocenti, AdobeEnsamble, 2013 (6) Giorgia Zanellato, Balloon – ATIPICO, 2014.
