Inaugurated at the foundation Pirelli HangarBiococca in Milan, a personal exhibition of the Venetian artist Giorgio Andreotta Calo CITY OF MILAN – with eleven works well present in an exhibition itinerary that combines the works created from 2008 to today.
Inside the exhibition space called The Shed, the artist concentrated on his sculptural practice, presenting the works present in close dialogue, with links not only to the city of Milan but also to the Venice lagoon and to the natural elements of Ischia and Sardinia.
Indeed Productive (2019), a new installation, is made up of rock and sediment samples taken from the subsoil of the Venice lagoon and the mining area of Sulcis Iglesiente, in Sardinia.
The exhibition begins with the video Untitled (2019),a projection in which images of a seabed follow one another with mysterious figures and a descent into the underwater depths. It is a welcome that lasts fifteen minutes and marks everything that follows.
Then we proceed to navigate through the space. There are the Cores, a series composed of caranti, core barrels in steel and PVC. Through the use of core samples taken, the artist evokes a specific geological context, its stratifications and its possible transformations. Present are the Jellyfish, composed of wood crumbs collected from the waters of Venice, some left in their natural state, others transformed into bronze.
The works DOGOD, a real palindrome which in its shape or bronze or bone represents the skull of a primordial animal and underlines a spectral and ancestral aspect of the exhibition. Back (“to return” in Spanish) is a boat that the artist originally used to travel around the Venice lagoon before placing it in the lead role in a previous exhibition as an ideal flight of the city of Milan. The exhibition ends with the huge photo City of Milan (2019), a view of Milan from the thirty-first floor to the Pirelli Gratticello, iconic building in Milan and today headquarters of the Lombardy Region. This work (500 x 1143 cm) is made of a direct impression on photosensitive paper made via pinhole.l
The exhibition was presented by the president of Pirelli HangarBicocca Marco Tronchetti Provera, the artistic director Vicente Todoli, the curator Roberta Tenconi and Andreotta Calò (born in 1979). The curator Tenconi explained that the path is a path that manages to bring back the soul of the artist and his concentration on sculpture. Indeed the exhibition is “a descent into depth: physical and symbolic”.In the space there is “a precision and a geometry” that creates “a wonderful play of colors that can be clearly seen in the morning. Nonetheless fascinating is the night vision.
The artistic director, Vicente Todoli was of the same opinion: the exhibition is "a continuous tour" that is done to enter into the details. A visit both day and night is highly recommended because it changes completely.
The artist Andreotta Calò was grateful to have such a large space which helps him to make a better idea of immersion. A particular immersion and a global immersion. It is living in space. This is the first time these works are put together…it is an open sea to sail on.
How would you define Milan? Andreotta Calò does not exist: “a familiar place, a place that has been able to renew itself. Is present. I have seen the city change over ten years. Milan has a very defined character”.
Free entry. Via Chiese 2, Milan. From Thursday to Sunday 10.00 – 22.00.
