TO HANDLE DETACHMENT (in action and at rest)

TO HANDLE DETACHMENT (in action and at rest)’ | GESTIRE IL DISTACCO (in azione e a riposo)

is a site-specific commission for the exhibition “Here. Between Not-yet and No-more”, Galleria Milano (9 May-30 June 2022)

in collaboration with Bianca Trevisan, Tomi Merola, Nicola Pellegrini

– Site specific 2.5 x 5.3 x 1.3 m (marmo, piombo | marble, lead)
– gallery piece 12 x 300 x 90 cm (piombo,  feltro, tessuti riciclati, vernice, dialoghi | lead, felt, varnish, recycled materials, dialogues)
– action of detachment by Elena and Nicola

THE THRESHOLD: between private and public, between home and work, between domesticated and not, between inside and outside, between woman and man, between curved and straight; the threshold moves continuously, it becomes invisible. THE AFFORDANCES of place. Attachment to place and forced detachment. THE WEIGHT, heavy as lead, anni di piombo, then as well as now, in private and public. HANDLE; to handle, or manage – manus (notes for a dialogue, Elena Cologni)

The gallery as a place where public and private coincide, a domestic place overlaps with that of work – of caring and the care of things and people. Attachment to place is “a set of feelings that refer to a geographical place, which emotionally bind a person to this place according to their role or as an experiential setting” (Rubstein 1992).

The work is to be understood as an exercise shared with Nicola, Bianca and Toni, at the same time becoming a tool for articulating and sharing the moment of detachment from the place itself to open up to new possible physical and conceptual perspectives.

The thickness of the steps of the external staircase are covered with strips of lead. One of these is moved inside the gallery in a shared action.

Detachment Strategies, 2022, Elena Cologni (graphite on paper, 35×50 cms)

 

LA SOGLIA: tra privato e il pubblico, tra casa e lavoro, tra addomesticato e non, tra dentro e fuori, tra donna e uomo, tra curvo e retto; la soglia si sposta continuamente, si rende invisibile. L’AFFORDANZA del luogo. L’attaccamento al luogo e il forzato distacco. IL PESO, pesante come il piombo, anni di piombo, allora cosi’ come adesso, nel privato e nel pubblico. HANDLE; to handle, come maniglia o gestire (appunti per un dialogo, Elena Cologni)

La galleria come luogo in cui pubblico e privato coincidono, luogo domestico che si sovrappone a quello di lavoro – della cura e dell’accudimento di cose e persone. L’attaccamento al luogo è “un insieme di sentimenti che si riferiscono a un luogo geografico, i quali legano emotivamente una persona a questo luogo in funzione del suo ruolo o come setting esperienziale” (Rubstein 1992).

L’opera e’ da intendere come esercizio condiviso con Nicola, Bianca e Toni, facendosi al tempo stesso strumento di articolazione e condivisione del momento di distacco dal luogo stesso per aprirsi alle nuove prospettive fisiche e concettuali possibili.

Gli spessori dei gradini della scalinata esterna sono ricoperti da strisce di piombo, una delle quali viene spostata all’interno della galleria in un’azione condivisa.

 

Il contesto

La mostra Here. Between not-yet and no-more, intende omaggiare lo spazio con interventi di circa quaranta artisti che sono stati invitati a dialogare con gli ambienti e il contesto della Galleria, nell’oggi, ma anche in virtù della memoria di ciò che è stato: tra il non ancora e il non più è l’adesso, l’istante nel mezzo, il momento sempre presente, precario e fragile perché in costante trasformazione, il qui da cui possiamo godere di uno sguardo privilegiato sul passato e il futuro che verrà. Le volte affrescate, il rumore dei passi sulle assi del pavimento, le maniglie, i dettagli liberty, i cornicioni, le sale, i due spazi di lavoro e i tanti dettagli dello spazio vengono rielaborati dallo sguardo attento e affettivo degli artisti, così come la memoria viva di ciò che è stato, il ricordo di Carla e l’odore persistente di sigaretta.

Era il 1973 quando Carla Pellegrini, insieme al marito Baldo, decideva di trasferire la Galleria Milano da via della Spiga all’attuale sede con doppio ingresso su via Manin e su via Turati. Se ora in via Turati le sedi delle case di moda fanno a gara per aggiudicarsi uno spazio, allora il contesto era ben diverso. C’erano i palazzi con le facciate in bugnato, gli uffici, le banche, i centri direttivi delle multinazionali, ma era anche un quartiere vivo, dove le persone erano parte di un tessuto sociale variegato ma dalle maglie salde.

The context:

The exhibition Here. Between not-yet and no-more, intends to pay homage to the space with interventions by about forty artists who have been invited to dialogue with the environments and the context of the Gallery, today, but also by virtue of the memory of what it has been: between the not yet and the no longer is the now, the instant in the middle, the ever-present moment, precarious and fragile because in constant transformation, the here from which we can enjoy a privileged look at the past and the future to come. The frescoed vaults, the sound of footsteps on the floorboards, the handles, the liberty details, the cornices, the rooms, the two work spaces and the many details of the space are reworked by the attentive and affective gaze of the artists, as well as the memory alive of what has been, the memory of Carla and the persistent smell of cigarettes. It was 1973 when Carla Pellegrini, together with her husband Baldo, decided to transfer the Galleria Milano from via della Spiga to its current location with double entrances on via Manin and via Turati. If now in via Turati the headquarters of the fashion houses are competing to win a space, then the context was quite different. There were buildings with rusticated facades, offices, banks, management centers of multinationals, but it was also a lively neighborhood, where people were part of a varied but solidly woven social fabric.

Artists::
Alterazioni Video, Riccardo Arena, Marina Ballo Charmet, Gianfranco Baruchello, Alexander Brodsky, Silvia Cini, Elena Cologni, Daniela Comani, Manuela Cirino, Pierluigi Fresia, Gianni Gangai, Eugenio Giliberti, Alice Guareschi, Marianne Heier, Silvia Hell, Paolo Inverni, Salvatore Licitra, Elio Marchesini, Roberto Marossi, Amedeo Martegani, Ferdinando Mazzitelli, Ottonella Mocellin, Margherita Morgantin, Giancarlo Norese, Giovanni Oberti, Antonella Ortelli, Francesco Pedrini, Diego Randazzo, Patrick Tuttofuoco, Marco Vaglieri, Grazia Varisco, Serena Vestrucci, Cesare Viel, Luca Vitone, Francesco Voltolina, Warburghiana (Aurelio Andrighetto, Gianluca Codeghini, Dario Bellini, Elio Grazioli).

more info here

 

Galleria Milano, Via Manin 13, Via Turati 14, MILANO  – Tuesday | martedì – Saturday | sabato 10.00 – 13.30 / 15.00 – 19.00
ph: +39 02 29000352  E-MAIL: info@galleriamilano.com   www.galleriamilano.com

Pratiche di cure, o del cur(v)are

Elena Cologni. Pratiche di cura, o del cur(v)are.  curator Gabi Scardi

May 17 – July 4, 2021, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Palazzetto Tito, Venice

in collaboration with resilient communities, the Italian Pavilion, Biennale of Architecture, La Biennale di Venezia.

ExhibitionGuideCologniBLM-FINAL

selected exhibition shots
Affordances, invito all’uso, installation (2021, 150x400x200 cm)
Affordances, invito all’uso, drawing series (2018, 30×40 cm each )
Mother Hooks, sculptures series (2020/various sizes)

Untitled (Prop), (2016, 100x100x5 cm / 200×300×2.5 cm)
Untitled (Prop), maket series), (2016, 25x25x3 cm ciascuno / each)
Intraplaces (recording forms), (2017, collage 80×100 cm ciascuno / each)
Untitled (Studies), (2016, 80×100 cm)
339282.580645 Barleycorns Away… (2017, installazione / installation)

Gropius’ Offcuts, sculptural composition (2015, wood+textile. 18 modules: 120 cm, variable hight and width)
Gropius’ Offcuts, (2015, 3 C-Type prints on allumynium, 35 x50 cm)

‘From the Orchard to the Home’, 1930, EAFA Cat. 589, East Anglian Film Archive, University of East Anglia
the images above are by Giorgio Bombieri, Settore Cultura, Comune di Venezia

Lo scarto (touch), (2015, from the series, porcelain)

 

Courtesy Comune di Venezia, Settore Cultura – Biblioteca civica VEZ, Fondo Archivio Giacomelli;

 

from the press release

The exhibition offers a journey through the artistic practice of Cologni starting from series of works – drawings, sculptures, installations and performative choreographies – relating to different moments of her previous research, and to her most recent project specifically created in relation to the Venetian context.

The exhibition project is articulated around a concept dear to the artist: the elaboration of the space of separation; an “intraplace” that unites and separates, which is distance, but also common ground; which is woven with bonds and can be bridged through healing practices.

In fact, Elena Cologni’s work is linked to a marked spatial sensitivity, to the idea of ​​an emotional and social bond, to the awareness of the interdependence between the individual, the community and the environment. More specifically, the artist focuses on the theme of care understood both as a personal relational commitment and in its territorial, historical-social, anthropological and gender dimensions.

Her interventions include an exploration of public and private space starting from historical investigations that in many cases touch on the themes of women’s emancipation in relation to the social and cultural heritage of the past, in this case places for laundry washing. The tendency to carry out participatory actions and to insert works in the public space are expressions of the value that Cologni attributes to collective requests. At the same time, however, the forms of his works, although rooted in physical and social reality, go through a process of reduction, in many cases to the point of abstraction. The recourse to a curved trend, frequent in drawings, sculptures, installations and choreographies of gestures in public space, suggests the need to escape linearity by bringing thought back to the idea of ​​the circle, metaphorically associated with ideas of equity, of participation , of continuity.

The exhibition Elena Cologni. Practices of care. On finding the cur(v)e is alive with different references. On the one hand it is rooted in the history of twentieth century art: there is a direct reference to Barbara Hepworth, who in 1950 took part in the British Pavilion of the Biennale d’Arte and who leaves observations of people in Piazza San Marco, which Cologni sees an antecedent of her choreographed exercises. On the other hand, the artist connects to the Venetian social context of which she investigates traditional crafts in danger of extinction and everyday work environments in order to understand the relationship between domestic space and work space.

The exhibition serves as a reference point for a series of events in Italy and abroad planned during the opening months, as detailed here The Body of/at Work

In Venice:

  • 5 June: The Body of/at Work, experiential exercises part of resilient communities Padiglione Italia, 17th Biennale di Architettura 2021, La Biennale di Venezia
  • 18 May – 3 July: The Body of/at Work experiential exercises with dialogic sculptures in the city

In London:

  • 24 June: Care(less). On invisibility; 25 June: Care(less). On forgetting; 26 June: Care(less). On discarding, are part of the London Festival of Architecture

Live streaming and updates available at https://www.facebook.com/thebodyofatwork/

Collaborations: Padiglione Italia, Biennale Architettura, La Biennale di Venezia; London Festival of Architecture; Laboratorio PRIDE, IR.IDE, Università Iuav di Venezia; Comune di Venezia, Settore Cultura – Biblioteca civica VEZ, Fondo Archivio Giacomelli; Comune di Venezia, Direzione Sviluppo del Territorio e Città Sostenibile AFU – Archivio Fotografico di Urbanistica; Associazione Crespi d’Adda, Comune di Capriate San Gervasio Municipalita’ di Casteverano; The Hepworth Collection, UK; Moleskine Foundation Collection; Homerton College, University of Cambridge; East Anglian Film Archive; Luigi Bevilacqua Tessiture; Anemotech theBreath.
The project is funded by: Artist International Development Fund, British Council; Emergency Fund 2020, Arts Council England; A-N Artist Bursary; Faculty of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University. And with the support of Wysing Arts Center.

The Body of/at Work

The Body of/at Work

The Body of/at Work, Elena Cologni, Piazza San Marco, Venice, 2021

 

The Body of/at Work series of situated interventions was premiered at resilient communitiesItalian Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, on 5th June 2021 in conjunction with the exhibition Elena Cologni. Pratiche di cura, o del cur(v)are, curator Gabi Scardi May 17 – July 4, 2021, at Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Palazzetto Tito, Venice

This is part of an ongoing project, the details of which can be found here https://elenacologni.com/projects/the-body-of-at-work/

LIVED DIALECTICS, MOVEMENT AND REST

LIVED DIALECTICS, MOVEMENT AND REST (1 & 2)

Eidotipo a, 2016, site responsive drawing (indian ink and graphite on tracing paper)

 

#1, dialogic site responsive action: MuseumsQuartier, Vienna courtyard 7, in front of AZW (2 facilitators + elastic band, variable duration)

 

#2, dialogic site responsive action: to walk from MuseumsQuartier, Vienna courtyard 7 (in front of AZW) to Burgtor/ Heldenplatz (2 facilitators + wooden strauctures + balloons, variable duration)

Curated by Gülsen Bal and Walter Seidl

Performance: 27 July 2016
Venue: stroll from MuseumsQuartier, Vienna courtyard 7 (in front of AZW) to Burgtor/ Heldenplatz

“…a pre-reflexive corporeal awareness manifested through everyday’s gestures and behaviors and typically in synch with the spatial and physical environment in which the action unfolds….bodily routines as contributing to the lived dimensions of place, including attachment grounded in habitual regularity…  the simple act of walking with its movement and rest patterns….”  Webcast available  here

CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

The work was developed during a residency at Q21, Museums Quartier, Vienna and produced by Q21 and Frei_Raum, Architekturzentrum Wienand MuseumsQuartier Wien, Austria.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks to Q21 director Elisabeth Hajek and to the support team: Lisa Ribar, Suchart Wannaset, Kai Trausenegger, score  interpreted by facilitators: Daliah Breit and Kaan Ertaylan, filming: Suchard Wannaset.

Frei_Raum, Architekturzentrum Wien and MuseumsQuartier Wien, Austria

RELATED TALKS

Indisciplined, London LASER program of talks at University of the Arts London on the in(ter)disciplinary approach in my work, on 23 October 2016; London LASER is hosted by University of the Arts London (Central Saint Martins MA Art and Science) and University of Westminster (Imaging Art and Science programmes) and supported by LENS Community of Practice at UAL and CREAM at Westminster. LASER is a project of Leonardo® /ISAST (the International Society for Art, Science and Technology). London LASER is organised by Heather Barnett and co-chaired with John R A Smith.  Webcast available here l

Locating oneself. lived dialectics, movement and rest through Art, part of the The New and History – art*science 2017 Conference in Bologna , to contextualise my artistic research, also encompassing phenomenology and environmental psychology, and now The New and History – art*science 2017/Leonardo 50 Proceedings book is out. This, published by Noema Media & Publishing, collects the proceedings of art*science 2017/Leonardo 50 conference.