(Italiano sotto)
The old church of
San Lorenzo, venue of the Mexican pavilion at the 55th International Art
Exhibition -La Biennale di Venezia, is a building that still speaks of its past
greatness. It is important that the project to be developed there actively
relates to a place of intrinsic aesthetic appeal. Consequently, the curatorial
proposal consists in creating a sonorous dialogue with the space. Cordiox, by
Ariel Guzik, is a complex machine that describes its environment through sound,
spreading a tonal, subtle and expansive crystalline cadence, thus creating a
unique listening experience.
With this four
meters high machine, the artist has achieved an important synthesis of elements
and functional simplicity. His design is backed by decades of research and
study; hence it is not a mere representation, but the result of a perfection
achieved in the laboratory, with the backing of thorough experimentation. The
machine's core is made of a very fine quartz cylinder, unique in the world (45
cm in diameter and 180 cm high) manufactured especially for this piece by an
expert German company. It has long and tense chords, very much like a musical
instrument. All sorts of vibrations, empathic and environmental energies are
susceptible to be captured by its subtle mechanism, which transforms invisible
entropy into harmonious order. Furthermore, because of its sound-descriptive
nature, without speakers or amplifiers, Cordiox has the capability to envelop
the complete inner area of San Lorenzo with sound. Therefore the audience will
sonorously experience a site that cannot be traversed physically due to the
church's deterioration.
This antique
church has a surprising musical background. Among other important facts, it is
said that, due to its excellent acoustics, Antonio Vivaldi liked to rehearse
for his concerts there. In 1984, for the 41st edition of the Venice Biennale,
this site hosted a great public event: the opera Prometeo, by Luigi Nono, one
of the most important avant-garde composers of the twentieth century. This
concert was his final realization of what he conceived as the theater of
consciousness: "An invisible theatre where the sound production and its
projection in space are fundamental for the creation of dramaturgy". For
this concert, the famous architect Renzo Piano produced a complex intervention
that was later taken apart in San Lorenzo and reinstalled wherever the opera
Prometeo was later presented.
For Nono, music
and sound dominate over images and the written word, allowing new dimensions of
meaning and possibilities for listening. Guzik's work cannot be fully
understood in contemporary art without the background of artists like Nono, who
Guzik has always admired. San Lorenzo is a challenge for the artist because
acoustics, harmony and resonance are key elements in his explorations. His work
in San Lorenzo continues a long tradition in this site, which has been called
"the inverted lute" due to its privileged acoustics.
Ariel Guzik,
Artist
Born in 1960,
Mexico City
Musician,
researcher, artist, iridologist, herbalist and inventor. He designs and
produces mechanisms and instruments to enquire into the various languages of
nature. He is the director of the Nature Expression and Resonance Research
Laboratory in Mexico, which for over 25 years has freely explored the phenomena
of resonance, mechanics, electricity, and magnetism as foundations for the
invention of mechanisms that give voice to nature through music. His research
work is the reflection of an intimate need to generate an atmosphere favorable
to the enchantment of the world. He intends to preserve mysteries, rather than
decipher them, favoring the perception of natural phenomena through the senses,
fascination and fantasy. Installations and individual exhibitions of his work
have been presented in national and international institutions.
Itala Schmelz,
Curator
Born in 1968,
Mexico City
Studied
philosophy (1988–1992) at the UNAM (National Autonomus University of Mexico).
She was the director of Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros SAPS (2001–2007) and of
the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil MACG (2007–2011), where she promoted
contemporary art, curating exhibitions of both Mexican and international
artists. Her essays have been published in prestigious magazines, catalogues
and newspapers. She curated El Futuro Más Acá, the first Mexican Science
Fiction Film Festival (Centro Cultural del Bosque, 2003; Biarritz Film Festival
and the French Cinémathèque in Paris, 2004; The Fantastic Film Festival in
Bilbao and the Reina Sofía Museum, 2005; as well as the Rio de Janeiro Film
Festival, 2006). She curated the exhibition Siqueiros Landscape Painter,
conformed by 80 paintings by Siqueiros (MOLAA, Los Angeles in 2010 and MACG in
2011). Currently she is developing the Film Museum of the Cineteca Nacional
project in Mexico City.
Italiano
L’Instituto
Nacional de Bellas Artes (Istituto Nazionale di Belle Arti) annuncia che il
progetto che rappresenterà il Messico alla 55. Esposizione Internazionale
d’Arte - la Biennale di Venezia, sarà Cordiox, dell’artista Ariel Guzik, a cura
di Itala Schmelz. L’esposizione sarà aperta dal 1° giugno al 24 novembre 2013
nella chiesa di San Lorenzo, sede del padiglione messicano. Ariel Guzik è noto
come creatore di complesse macchine di risonanza sonora, realizzate secondo una
progettazione altamente sofisticata, che opera sullo sviluppo di tecnologie
definibili arcaiche, se paragonate con quelle imperanti nell’attuale
avanguardia elettronica dell’arte. L’ex chiesa di San Lorenzo è un’imponente
costruzione del XVI Secolo, la cui fondazione si fa risalire, secondo una
leggenda, al VI secolo. La struttura di 20 metri di altezza, oggi gravemente
deteriorata, è dominata da un importante altare rinascimentale, che Ariel Guzik
coinvolge nell’opera, proseguendo una tradizionale relazione tra la struttura
della chiesa, con la sua acustica perfetta, e la ricerca sonora. Importanti
musicisti la utilizzavano per svolgervi i loro concerti.
Nel 1984
l’edificio ospitò il suo ultimo evento pubblico, il Prometeo di Luigi Nono,
alla cui progettazione ambientale lavorò Renzo Piano. La struttura e la sua
tradizione sonora sono una sfida interessante per l’artista, poiché proprio
l’acustica, l’armonia e la risonanza sono gli elementi chiave della sua
ricerca. Cordiox, pensata e progettata come “descrizione sonora dello spazio”,
coinvolge infatti tutta la struttura interna dell’edificio. Il suo suono,
propagato nelle navate senza l’ausilio di supporti fisici, analogici o digitali
(diffusori, casse o amplificatori), è offerto allo spettatore come immersione
sonora ed esperienza auditiva. Cordiox è una macchina alta quattro metri
costituita da 180 corde tese su tre arpe ed un cilindro di quarzo puro fuso, di
grandi dimensioni. Un pezzo unico al mondo, di 45 centimetri di diametro e 180
di altezza, realizzato ex professo dall’impresa tedesca Heraeus Quarzglass. Lo
strumento, a sua volta, è formato da corde lunghe e tese, analoghe agli
strumenti musicali. La sua parte interna genera un campo elettrico e magnetico.
La cadenza tonale generata è cristallina, sottile, espansiva, in forte
relazione con lo spazio che la circonda. L’esperienza auditiva generata da
Cordiox permette allo spettatore una visita sonora delle strutture
acrhitettoniche della chiesa, attualmente impossibili da percorrere.
info http://mexicobienal.org/
Opening: 28
maggio, 16:30
Ex chiesa di San
Lorenzo Castello 5069
Dal 28 al 31
Maggio aperto dalle 10.00 alle 19.00
