Wednesday 23rd, 2011 the exhibition “ANTIPODI_TO BE WORLDS” of Leonora Bisagno + Ultranature opens at the SRISA Gallery of Contemporary Art. The exhibition of Leonora Bisagno and ultranature use fragments of “worlds” and placing them in relation to one another creates a playful and poetic vision of reality. These works are an attempt to discover the antipodes between proximity and distance, a research that culminates with a reflection on the fragile passage of time.

As we enter the main entrance we are immediately met by the projected video “dance schoo para-dise”. The image is almost illegible; the quality of the footage, purposefully poor. In the background we can hear music from what we imagine is a lively dance lesson. We hear the loud music and animated voices of the participants but the image is dark, lit only by colorful strobes that trace the wall. The track runs like that of an archived memory, the fuzzy footage, the mood and sounds remain, though the details are lost.

In this same space we find a collection of 18 cutouts of maps taken from an old encyclopedia at a recycling plant. This work is entitled, “paesi vari_2011”, “other worlds_2011”. Like the “dance schoo paradise” video, these images are merely fragments of the larger reality or memory. Removed from their context we are no longer able to discern their provenance. Cutting along boundary lines, flipping and placing the images, the new territories are created. These colorful cut-outs may cross multiple regions, or be filled by solid fragments of oceans or waters. Each image creates a new space and confine, inviting us to reflect on what these colorful shapes represent. These constructed realities of “places” that signify not only physical space but historical and socio-political identities that can be defined and redefined and at each phase abstracted to form some new world or territory.

In the next room, in the main gallery space, the video “ultranature 3” is projected on the back wall. The video is split, and side-by-side we see two videos that depict the exercise routine of “Poppo.” Poppo has Alzheimer’s and his grunts and monosyllables are heard in the background. He lives in a reality shaped by distance and proximity. His past mixes with his present. His reality is created by a series of fragmented memories that pieced together form a separate world. His physicality and audible grunting are childlike and poetic.

Leonora Bisagno (Zürich 1977), Born and raised in Italy, lives and works in Luxumburg since 2010. Working in a variety of media, her research talks of the discovery of identity and of relationships.

Ultranature is an artistic project, created in December 2010 that speaks of the intimate relationship between the internal and the external world.

Rebecca Olsen, February 2011

SRISA Contemporary Art Gallery_ via San Gallo 53r, 50129 Firenze | tel. 055-4627374 | info@santareparata.org |