Federica Di Carlo was one of the twelves invited artists at the international art exhibition Art of Egypt 2024, hosted in the Giza Plain. In dialogue with Fabio Giagnacovo, Federica Di Carlo talks about her site-specific project I SEE, I SEE. Egyptian mythology and modern science meet in the gaze of optical physicS, facing the monumental pyramids of Cheops, Chegren and Mycerinus.
Fabio Giagnacovo: You are one of the 12 international artists invited to create a work for the 2024 International Art Exhibition of Egypt, titled Forever Is Now.04. You are presenting I SEE, I SEE, the continuation of a research project you began some time ago that unites optics and perception, the sense of existence (the experiential view) and the cosmic experience (the transcendental view). I SEE, I SEE delves into Egyptian mythology, the belief that humanity was born from the tears of the god Ra, exploring this ancestral and cosmic concept through the poetic form of a structured and scientific discourse. Once again, your work elevates itself between myth and science, intimacy and cosmology, earth and sky – “in the verticality of the gaze,” as you say. It investigates humanity’s relationship with the force of nature, connecting the sum of individualities to something beyond itself. We find ourselves, in awe, perceiving a series of dynamic universal, sensory, physical, and emotional forces, elegantly ordered, yet far from entropy, the state to which all things in the universe, and especially art, are drawn. With all these elements and uncertainties, how do you manage to square the circle?
Federica Di Carlo: Even within entropy, there is a principle of order – and vice versa. A certain balance is created between the forms of nature and their distribution, which may seem random to us humans. I SEE I SEE attempts to enter this harmonic disorder, drawing inspiration, among other things, from the form-order used in the design of space telescopes mirrors that gaze into infinity; mirrors whose design was itself inspired by natural patterns. So, I SEE does not try to control the relationship with living entropic elements such as light, wind, and sand – at least, that’s how I conceived it. Instead, it accompanies them, dances with them. And it achieves this, in fact, thanks to the natural principle behind the composition of the lenses. When creating an outdoor public installation, one must embrace the imperfections and alterations introduced by Mother Nature.
I would like to take a moment to reflect on the fact that I SEE, I SEE is a research project that began several years ago – a method, “an exercise for the public to see in new ways,” interspersed with various investigations and analyses, and now revisited in connection with the pyramids of the Giza Plateau. It is a research project that does not end, but is revisited and expands, incorporating new meanings and elements. Is there always a progressive sense to your artistic work?
My works tend to function like living organisms: they are part of the same system and are always in dialogue, much like life on Earth and beyond. For this reason, I don’t like to limit myself by declaring a work definitively finished. I like to leave a door open to the possibility of evolution or transformation within a piece, as is the case with I SEE I SEE. It was created in 2015 from my need to shift my gaze away from screens and return it to the “screen” of nature, engaging in dialogue with the landscapes that have shaped each phase of my life. It’s a work that adapts and evolves each time. It doesn’t need to end because its dialogue remains in constant interaction with the ever-changing reality it encounters. The light changes, the clouds change, the desert changes, and the wind changes.
What immediately stands out is the unique setting of the Giza Plateau – an incredibly atypical space for an art exhibition, perfectly suited to the visual and experiential experimentation of the artworks, given its extremely distinctive character. It is a dreamlike environment that curves into an absolute metaphysical space, particularly in the relationship with the surrounding artworks (several of which, beyond your own, form a very powerful connection with the pyramids). What role do the pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus play in your installation?
The environment is absolutely fundamental in my projects. Even the empty space of a gallery can be transformed, using colour, into a liquid in which I immerse the works. In this case, a real outdoor environment – a desert with the great pyramids on the horizon – had to be brought into dialogue with the artwork. Perhaps this was the most challenging part: finding the way to harmonise with these monumental “sculptures” and the desert’s colours and light in a way that wasn’t superficial. This intention led me to use a form that is extremely significant to Egyptian culture but also a founding element in my research. The eye was humanity’s first tool for understanding the world. Vision was the first tool with which to access the world beyond our earthly boundaries. In Egyptian mythology, the eye represents the origin of humanity, born from the tears of the Sun God. Finally, I later learnt – from a physicist friend – that the scientist who first understood the mechanism of human vision was the Egyptian Ahlazen, who died in Cairo. Everything aligned on its own. All you had to do was listen to the place. It all started there.
An exhibition in the desert is as far removed from an “ideal exhibition in the white cube” – an ideology that is undoubtedly outdated, yet still prevalent today. You even mentioned a sandstorm that raged during the setup of the exhibition. Installing an artwork under such conditions suggests a sense of heroism unknown to postmodernity – we might even say incongruous. It recalls the tenacity of a lost avant-garde spirit, belonging to some Great Narrative. Leaving aside the visible – the complex machinery behind the organisation of such an important exhibition – what does all this mean for the artist who puts so much effort into showcasing and dis-playing their work at its best?
Every location presents different challenges. As always, in building an installation and setting it up, I have learnt over the years that contemporary art resembles an experiment. You must adapt, surf through difficulties, and be willing to shift your intentions so that they align with the state of nature. But, as stressful as it may be, I sometimes find this to be my favourite part of the job. It’s the moment when the work is seen, for the very first time, where it was meant to be. And this time too, I learnt a lot. You mentioned the sandstorm that accompanied us for three days and nights on the Giza Plateau, as we assembled the lenses and constructed the iron structure under extreme conditions – with 20-knot winds and sand infiltrating every single part of our bodies and the artwork itself. I return home with a new experience and an awareness of my ability to measure myself against the desert – an element that was previously unknown to me. The pyramids are privileged by night vision. These, too, are dreamlike elements that an artist will carry within forever.
Egypt is a country that is both close and distant from the West. This is evident in every facet characterising a geopolitical system. An international exhibition like this one, set in non-Western territory and featuring artists from all corners of the world, presupposes extreme heterogeneity. This diversity is indeed present in the 12 installations which, and this is not to be taken for granted, are all part of a well-structured and cohesive curatorial vision, achieved through exceptionally thoughtful choices. However, at the same time, the 12 installations – save perhaps for a couple – are rooted in a distinctly Western way of conceptualising and practising art. As Nadine Abdel Ghaffa, the project curator and founder of the event, said: “In the end, the whole world believes in one great message.” If that were true, it would mean that the Western globalising and gentrifying worldview has diluted the meaning of art which, by its very nature, can contain infinite messages and generate countless pathways of thought, including those that are inconvenient. Does art, then, have one great message and one unambiguous meaning which, it goes without saying, is the conveniently Western one? Can art be more than a tool to propagate social values deemed positive by the West?
ART should be more than a photo posted on Instagram. Art was supposed to save the world, they used to say, and this was also inscribed on the facades of temples and, later, on theatres… Today, however, this notion is evolving alongside the socio-cultural and political realities of the world. Art should strive to resist and hold on to a perspective that is simultaneously intimate and universal, without succumbing to superficial appearances. In my own work, I try to use aesthetic elements to draw the viewers in, lured by deceptive content that often has multiple levels of interpretation, accompanied by profound concepts. However, it is ultimately the viewer – whether from the West or the East – who chooses which levels to engage with and which to ignore. The same thing happened with the pyramids. The work was experienced in various ways. What surprised me most was the public’s strong desire to “exist” inside the work – to position themselves behind the piece and be photographed through the lenses. This was a layer I had not considered but which seems to reflect the level of today’s network society.
images: (cover 1 ) Federica Di Carlo,«I SEE, I SEE», Egypt International Art Exhibition 2024, October-November 2024, ph: MO4 Network (2 – 3) Federica Di Carlo,«I SEE, I SEE», Egypt International Art Exhibition 2024, October-November 2024, ph: Ahmed Hamdy (4-5) Federica Di Carlo,«I SEE, I SEE»,Egypt International Art Exhibition 2024, October-November 2024, ph: HF4
