exhibition text
On the occasion of the 19th “Giornata del Contemporaneo”, the major event promoted by AMACI – Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums, the Italian Cultural Institute of Madrid is happy to present Diálogos, a site-specific exhibition that the interdependent artist Giuseppina Giordano created as a result of the artistic residency carried out at our headquarters.
During the days of residency, from 18 September to 6 October 2023, the artist, whose practice is based on participation and exchange with others, invited some people to share a moment of “tapeo” with her, a strong symbol of the spontaneity of Spanish sociality, in various bars in Madrid.
Each meeting offered the opportunity to collect and re-elaborate words, thoughts and phrases, which were subsequently put into dialogue by the artist with the environments of the former cafeteria inside the Institute’s headquarters, in a synaesthetic setup in which they present several elements that come from the bars of the city in which the meetings took place.
The series of glitched “Flashback” images set up on the walls and arranged on some tables are scans, that is, images taken in contact with some bars in Madrid. Menus, napkins, video games and decorations of various types are visual fragments of the meetings had, but also images to be touched, as they contain stories, descriptions and parts of the dialogues in Braille. In the same way, the large prints of pre-existing Milanese walks present in the exhibition space are also rendered tactile images, thanks to fabrics that identify and hide the presence of people’s faces.
Presented in an installation that evokes the setting of a bar also from an olfactory point of view with colored papers present on the floor and soaked in various alcohols, we find the “word – object” series, composed of plates and glasses used by the artist and by his guests during the meetings, on whose surfaces it is possible to see significant phrases and words of the dialogue had. All the engravings were made by reproducing the handwriting of each of the guests met: Manfredi Bosco, Ritsuko NAKAI, Rav. Pierpaolo Pinhas Punturello, Yoon BAE, Giuletta Speranza, Gianluca Lattuada, Violeta Medina and Salvadora Melguizo. For this last guest, the written track is replaced by a vocal track in which clips of dialogue are played alternating with ambient noises recorded by the artist, thanks to which the synaesthetic representation of a Madrid bar is completed.
In a multisensory exhibition, between visual, tactile, olfactory and auditory references, the artist presents the outcome of informal interactions dedicated to the practice of dialogue, in the name of interdependence and openness towards others. Crossing different cultures and central issues in her poetics, such as accessibility, spirituality and poetry, Giuseppina Giordano invites the public to rediscover the importance of listening and mutual exchange, in a game of balance between a polychrome aesthetic and very dense contents.
