Your browser does not support the video tag.
Your browser does not support the video tag.
Marco Cadioli - The Whirlpool
  • © ARSHAKE | ISSN 2283-3676
  • CONTACT
  • Login
Arshake
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT US
    • PROJECT
    • MEDIA/PARTNERSHIPS
    • CONTACT US
  • FOCUS
    • All
    • Focus
    • From the Past
    • Interview
    Timeline Shift at Pastificio Cerere Foundation in Rome

    Cardiff & Miller at the Coimbra Biennial

    Pamela Diamante at the Gilda Lavia Gallery

    Pamela Diamante at the Gilda Lavia Gallery

    Arcangelo Sassolino at the Continua Gallery

    Arcangelo Sassolino at the Continua Gallery

    Experimental Fellowship at Bauhaus Earth

    Experimental Fellowship at Bauhaus Earth

    Open call – Schermo dell’Arte

    Open call – Schermo dell’Arte

    Open Call: State of the ART(ist)

    Open Call: State of the ART(ist)

    Interview | Liu Jiayu

    Interview | Liu Jiayu

    Theatre of Proof at PAV

    Theatre of Proof at PAV

    Wetland Role-Playing Game

    Wetland Role-Playing Game

  • FRAME
    FRAME > Stop, Listen, Look

    FRAME > Stop, Listen, Look

    FRAME > Shining Hat

    FRAME > Shining Hat

    FRAME > To Breathe

    FRAME > To Breathe

    FRAME >  The fairies will find us if we leave a trail

    FRAME > The fairies will find us if we leave a trail

    FRAME > Hundred Changes in Life

    FRAME > Hundred Changes in Life

    FRAME >  Large Resemblagé

    FRAME > Large Resemblagé

    FRAME > Rubber Pencil Devil

    FRAME > Rubber Pencil Devil

    FRAME > ARC 2000

    FRAME > ARC 2000

    FRAME > Seeders and Leechers

    FRAME > Seeders and Leechers

  • VIDEO POST
    VIDEO POST > Augmented Shadow: Inside

    VIDEO POST > Augmented Shadow: Inside

    VIDEO POST > Anthofluid

    VIDEO POST > Anthofluid

    VIDEO POST > Isoscope

    VIDEO POST > Isoscope

    VIDEO POST > Kihikihi

    VIDEO POST > Kihikihi

    VIDEO POST > Triosophia

    VIDEO POST > Triosophia

    VIDEO POST > Kosei Komatsu

    VIDEO POST > Kosei Komatsu

    VIDEO POST > STRATACUT

    VIDEO POST > STRATACUT

    VIDEO POST > File Tabs no. 1

    VIDEO POST > File Tabs no. 1

    VIDEO POST > The Recap

    VIDEO POST > The Recap

  • SPECIAL PROJECT
    • ARSHAKE’S BANNER
    • CRITICAL GROUNDS
    • YOUNG ITALIAN ARTISTS
    • GAME OVER
    • GAME OVER • Loading
    • EXTERNAL PROJECTS
      • BACKSTAGE | ONSTAGE
      • PERCORSI • 6 years of the Terna Prize
      • TEMPO IMPERFETTO
  • RESOURCES
    • ARCHIVE
    • CALLS
    • ONLINE RESOUCES
  • it IT
  • en English
No Result
View All Result
Arshake
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT US
    • PROJECT
    • MEDIA/PARTNERSHIPS
    • CONTACT US
  • FOCUS
    • All
    • Focus
    • From the Past
    • Interview
    Timeline Shift at Pastificio Cerere Foundation in Rome

    Cardiff & Miller at the Coimbra Biennial

    Pamela Diamante at the Gilda Lavia Gallery

    Pamela Diamante at the Gilda Lavia Gallery

    Arcangelo Sassolino at the Continua Gallery

    Arcangelo Sassolino at the Continua Gallery

    Experimental Fellowship at Bauhaus Earth

    Experimental Fellowship at Bauhaus Earth

    Open call – Schermo dell’Arte

    Open call – Schermo dell’Arte

    Open Call: State of the ART(ist)

    Open Call: State of the ART(ist)

    Interview | Liu Jiayu

    Interview | Liu Jiayu

    Theatre of Proof at PAV

    Theatre of Proof at PAV

    Wetland Role-Playing Game

    Wetland Role-Playing Game

  • FRAME
    FRAME > Stop, Listen, Look

    FRAME > Stop, Listen, Look

    FRAME > Shining Hat

    FRAME > Shining Hat

    FRAME > To Breathe

    FRAME > To Breathe

    FRAME >  The fairies will find us if we leave a trail

    FRAME > The fairies will find us if we leave a trail

    FRAME > Hundred Changes in Life

    FRAME > Hundred Changes in Life

    FRAME >  Large Resemblagé

    FRAME > Large Resemblagé

    FRAME > Rubber Pencil Devil

    FRAME > Rubber Pencil Devil

    FRAME > ARC 2000

    FRAME > ARC 2000

    FRAME > Seeders and Leechers

    FRAME > Seeders and Leechers

  • VIDEO POST
    VIDEO POST > Augmented Shadow: Inside

    VIDEO POST > Augmented Shadow: Inside

    VIDEO POST > Anthofluid

    VIDEO POST > Anthofluid

    VIDEO POST > Isoscope

    VIDEO POST > Isoscope

    VIDEO POST > Kihikihi

    VIDEO POST > Kihikihi

    VIDEO POST > Triosophia

    VIDEO POST > Triosophia

    VIDEO POST > Kosei Komatsu

    VIDEO POST > Kosei Komatsu

    VIDEO POST > STRATACUT

    VIDEO POST > STRATACUT

    VIDEO POST > File Tabs no. 1

    VIDEO POST > File Tabs no. 1

    VIDEO POST > The Recap

    VIDEO POST > The Recap

  • SPECIAL PROJECT
    • ARSHAKE’S BANNER
    • CRITICAL GROUNDS
    • YOUNG ITALIAN ARTISTS
    • GAME OVER
    • GAME OVER • Loading
    • EXTERNAL PROJECTS
      • BACKSTAGE | ONSTAGE
      • PERCORSI • 6 years of the Terna Prize
      • TEMPO IMPERFETTO
  • RESOURCES
    • ARCHIVE
    • CALLS
    • ONLINE RESOUCES
No Result
View All Result
Arshake
No Result
View All Result
Home News Focus

The World of Machines by Marco Mendeni

Angelo Di Bello by Angelo Di Bello
20/06/2017
in Focus

The exhibition of Marco Mendeni’s work – an artist born in 1979, whose work uses new media and video games – at the Label 201 gallery – «My time machine is burning. (Is there a life after capitalism?)», curated by Elena Giulia Abbiatici – was astonishing.

Astonishing since he creates a feeling of surprise and wonder. To better explain this: no videos, computers or any other electronic devices are visible when entering the gallery. Nothing of the sort. However, the presence of new technologies is tangible. This is the first element of surprise: Mendeni manages to speak of the «technological machine» by using traditional means: oil paintings and marble slabs.

His paintings are engrossing, I get closer in order to figure out what they are made of. I want to my eyes to really grasp them and the works draw me, allowing me to get closer and let me ‘touch’ them. The moment my gaze meets the surface of the painting, however, I realise there is a temporal short circuit: the drawing is perfect, too perfect to have been painted by an artist. It has a printed quality to it despite the use of oil, a Renaissance medium, reminding me of the body, a burnt body marked by the encounter with a machine. The burn is still alive on the canvass, but it occurred previously. I am witness to a process that has already taken place, but it comes into existence before my gaze: from man to machine.

Who does the world revealed in Mendeni’s work belong to? The machine or the marked body?

With these questions still in mind, I realise the artist is offering me a lifeline: an epigraph. Marble consists of matter that passes through time and incisions are the first signs left by man as proof of his existence in the world. Here comes the second surprise: it is only a link! This is not a sign that is immediately intelligible: not a name, a date or a sign of man’s passage on earth. Mendeni has once again deceived me. What use is this slab to me, if I cannot not decipher it? Or, in a much more subtle way, I recognise this is a link, but without a machine this means nothing to me since I am unable to read it. I wonder if these letters and these signs, listed in succession, still belong to human language. They are instantly recognisable, but they are also enclosed in a linguistic process that has done away with the material body, man himself and instant communication: there is no exchange of knowledge or comprehension, there is no story. It is useless…

Still thoughtful, I feel exiled from the world, from the worlds that machines are producing and not only do these worlds not belong to me, but I am also incapable of deciphering their meaning. Nevertheless – and this is one of the many other surprises – I feel liberated: I recall Günther Anders and his work, «Man Without World»:

<< The expression ‘man without world’ means that (because we firmly recognise the natural realisation of freedom in capitalism, without any other alternative) we are free to decide which worlds, with varying degrees of offers and orders, we should favour >>.

As I leave the exhibition, I feel I have been challenged. And, ultimately, this is something art should always aim for.


This critical reflection by Angelo di Bello refers to the exhibition: «Marco Mendeni. My Time Machine is Burning (Is there a Life after Capitalism?)», Label 201, Rome,  06 – 26.05.2017. The work by Marco Mendeni was also recently depicted in Milan with the show  «Hype», curated by Matteo Bittanti, Amy D Arte Spazio, Milan

Images (al) «Marco Mendeni. My Time Machine is Burning (Is there a Life after Capitalism?)», Label 201, Roma, installation view, photo: Luisa Galdo

ShareTweetShareSend
Previous Post

FRAME > My Artificial M

Next Post

Telepresence, Bio Art and Poetry … Beyond Space

Angelo Di Bello

Angelo Di Bello

Related Posts

Timeline Shift at Pastificio Cerere Foundation in Rome
exhibitions

Cardiff & Miller at the Coimbra Biennial

by Maria Cristina Reggio
19/06/2025
Pamela Diamante at the Gilda Lavia Gallery
exhibitions

Pamela Diamante at the Gilda Lavia Gallery

by Fabio Giagnacovo
04/06/2025

CALLS

Experimental Fellowship at Bauhaus Earth
Calls

Experimental Fellowship at Bauhaus Earth

14/05/2025
Open call – Schermo dell’Arte
Calls

Open call – Schermo dell’Arte

07/05/2025
Open Call: State of the ART(ist)
Calls

Open Call: State of the ART(ist)

05/05/2025
RE:HUMANISM Art Prize 4
Calls

RE:HUMANISM Art Prize 4

18/03/2025
https://www.arshake.com/special-project-banner/young-italian-artists/
Facebook Twitter Instagram

Arshake is a collaborative artistic project, blurring the borders between art, science and technology, information and production.

  • Focus
  • Video post
  • Frame
  • Special Project
  • Interview
  • Calls
  • Exhibitions

One more step - Check your email and click the confirmation link

© 2024 – ARSHAKE

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Gestisci Consenso Cookie
Per fornire le migliori esperienze, utilizziamo tecnologie come i cookie per memorizzare e/o accedere alle informazioni del dispositivo. Il consenso a queste tecnologie ci permetterà di elaborare dati come il comportamento di navigazione o ID unici su questo sito. Non acconsentire o ritirare il consenso può influire negativamente su alcune caratteristiche e funzioni.
Funzionale Always active
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso sono strettamente necessari al fine legittimo di consentire l'uso di un servizio specifico esplicitamente richiesto dall'abbonato o dall'utente, o al solo scopo di effettuare la trasmissione di una comunicazione su una rete di comunicazione elettronica.
Preferenze
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso sono necessari per lo scopo legittimo di memorizzare le preferenze che non sono richieste dall'abbonato o dall'utente.
Statistiche
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso che viene utilizzato esclusivamente per scopi statistici. L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso che viene utilizzato esclusivamente per scopi statistici anonimi. Senza un mandato di comparizione, una conformità volontaria da parte del vostro Fornitore di Servizi Internet, o ulteriori registrazioni da parte di terzi, le informazioni memorizzate o recuperate per questo scopo da sole non possono di solito essere utilizzate per l'identificazione.
Marketing
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso sono necessari per creare profili di utenti per inviare pubblicità, o per tracciare l'utente su un sito web o su diversi siti web per scopi di marketing simili.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Visualizza le preferenze
{title} {title} {title}
No Result
View All Result
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT US
    • PROJECT
    • MEDIA/PARTNERSHIPS
    • CONTACT US
  • FOCUS
  • FRAME
  • VIDEO POST
  • SPECIAL PROJECT
    • ARSHAKE’S BANNER
    • CRITICAL GROUNDS
    • YOUNG ITALIAN ARTISTS
    • GAME OVER
    • GAME OVER • Loading
    • EXTERNAL PROJECTS
      • BACKSTAGE | ONSTAGE
      • PERCORSI • 6 years of the Terna Prize
      • TEMPO IMPERFETTO
  • RESOURCES
    • ARCHIVE
    • CALLS
    • ONLINE RESOUCES

© 2024 – ARSHAKE

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.