aesthetics of violence between image, video and document ‘, in Verona
At the Palazzo delle Poste, until 19 October, “Aesthetic BLAST of violence between image, video and document”, second edition of a multi-year project curated by Jessica Biancara And Marta Ferretti, with Giulia Costa, «Aimed at deepening the imaginations of the present through video and moving images».
Made as part of the program Video & TheCity, the 2021 edition of BLAST takes place in the spaces of Post Office Building, in Piazza Viviani 7, «prestigious building designed by Ettore Fagiuoli in the 20s of the twentieth century, which reopened to the city the Salone degli Sportelli after the passage to private property and the restoration interventions, favoring the encounter between ancient and contemporary and returning to the city a place of great historical and architectural importance “, have explained the organizers.
In the exhibition, video works by «one of internationally recognized artists, together with young people from different cultural backgrounds, who use video and moving images for analysis and witness different categories of violence in individual and collective competitions, often incorporating new technologies and methods of digital circulation “: Lida Abdul, Simona Andrioletti, Edgardo Aragón, Sofia Borelli, Elisa Caldana, Daniela Comani, Forensic Architecture, Regina José Galindo, Rodrigo Garrido, Debora Hirsch, Inhabitants, Michal Martychowiec, Rebecca Moccia, Giuliana Racco, belit sağ, Santiago Sierra, Diego Tonus , Chiara Ventura, Amir Yatziv, Dagmawi Ymer.
The exhibition is realized with the contribution of Boccanera Gallery, Studio G7 Gallery, Laveronica contemporary art, Mazzoleni, mor charpentier, Prometeo Gallery, Recontemporary, Rodriguez Gallery, Spazio Cordis.
The words of Jessica Bianchera and Marta Ferretti
BLAST reaches its second edition. How was the project born, what are its objectives and how has it changed, if it has changed, over time?
“The project was born from a reflection on the role of the image and in particular of the moving image in contemporary society both in the historical sense and in actuality, with particular attention to phenomena that have to do with dynamics of oppression, power and more generally violence. With the spread of technologies and portable digital devices, in the last twenty years the recording, editing and archiving of images and videos relating to violence has become an activity open to the participation of citizens, as well as activists, journalists and artists. Starting from this reflection we have only a shared investigation through the works of a certain number of artists from all over the world who make a very different use of video and the moving image to document, restore or denounce complex social dynamics, but also through a series of partners who are looking to offer new and further contributions that BLAST is carrying out, among these the archives (bak.ma, LOOP Barcelona, Archive of Migrant Memories and Careof) and the macrocosms they represent ».
BLAST has created numerous collaborations with various contemporary actors, from artists to galleries, from collections to archives and much more. How did you get your partners involved?
«Each partner has brought an invaluable contribution to the project, they wanted to involve the reality that operates specifically in the video and image in but also galleries, curators, artists and artists who participated in the construction of the project in terms of content and research. Other partners embraced the project because they believed in the values and in the importance of bringing a certain type of message to the public: we thank in this sense Creative Ashtart who devised the visual concept of the project, TBD Ultramagazine And CUT that they have created with us Explosion theory, a publication that is configured as an autonomous chapter and that expands and strengthens the work of the exhibition and of the whole project. Of course also the contribution of ArteVerona and of Post Office Building it was fundamental to offer the exhibition the ideal context and container in which to meet the public. I believe that nothing would have been done without the support and support of Cariverona Foundation he was born in Municipality of Verona: both have and are working with us on the project to make it a vehicle for relations and activation of the territory, citizenship and young people, affirming in this sense the importance of the languages of contemporary art and their active role in the community ».
How did you choose the artists and works featured in the 2021 edition?
“The research and construction of the exhibition began more than a year ago and are the result of a long meditation and reflection: we wanted to present a polyphony of points of view and approaches, due in part to the ways of re-establishing certain” categories “Of violence, both to the different backgrounds and to the different ages of the selected artists”.
What approach does BLAST have with respect to a delicate and complex issue such as violence?
«We wanted to give voice to a voice of possible approaches and points of view without expressing judgments but asking questions and offering opportunities for debate. The exhibition is one of the highlights of the project which in its first year mostly had a virtual dimension and of remote investigation but which is now also open to the community through some contemporary and subsequent actions such as talks, round tables, a screening and a series of workshops in which the artists were able to work with the community, with particular attention to the involvement of young people ».
Some of the works on display are dedicated to violence linked to new technologies and its digital circulation. Can you give us some examples of work?
«The opera How does the video become a proof? 2017 by Inhabitants, for example, is part of a larger project by artists and researchers Mariana Silva And Pedro Neves Marques from which the homonymous online channel was born inhabitants-tv.org dedicated to video and documentary. The inhabitants produce and share short-lived videos for online distribution that in each episode address different issues and questions, in this case the ways in which to make videos shot by ordinary citizens effective evidential tools in legal offices. Other works, such as Triple Chaser of the Forensic architecture, incorporate sophisticated data and image analysis and processing tools to investigate violent incidents where images and videos are produced have the potential to tell truths different from official ones. on display we will also present a screened version of the video game schism from Edgardo Aragonon And Rodrigo Garrido“.
What projects do you have for the next edition of BLAST?
«We certainly continue to continue to consult the role of art and in particular of video and the moving image in the context of investigation and social development. The work on this edition is still a lot and we want to collect the results first, but we know that it is a research that still has a lot of development potential ».