Art: postmonument at the international sculpture biennale of carrara postmonument XIVth international sculpture biennale of carrara marble sculptures on show in various sites throughout carrara, italy on now until october 31st, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Art: postmonument
XIVth international sculpture biennale of carrara
marble sculptures on show in various sites throughout carrara, italy
on now until october 31st, 2010
terence koh
boy by the roman sea, 2010
marble
40 x 90 x 55 cm
produced by marco ravenna, carrara
image by valerio e. brambilla
what happened to the monument?
the theme of this year's international sculpture biennale of cararra is the 'monument',
or rather the radical process of de-monumentalization which has freed sculpture from
any celebratory, encomiastic function.
the monument is an emblem of power, a tool for controlling the masses and making
them conform, but it is also a catalyst of national values and an irreplaceable piece
in the jigsaw of collective memory. it has become one of the main targets in revolts
and revolutions, wholly swept away when the ideas of democracy and freedom of
our time took hold. however, in today's changing scenario, in this atmosphere of
fin-de-siècle and of the rewriting of history, alongside the predominant contemporary
iconoclasm we can sense a gradual re-emergence of the codes and values of
the past. will we again identify ourselves in new monuments?
the carrara territory of italy has always been connected with the quarrying and working
of marble. it is where michelangelo and canova took up residence while they searched
for the right material for their works, and has suffered more than others from the decline
of traditional sculpture followed by the collapse of the 20th-century symbols and ideologies.
the local context thus acts as a mirror for the cracks in the symbolic and productive system
of the whole western world, and it is from a contemplation of this real situation that the
guest artists of this edition of the biennale draw their influences.
the decision to involve the whole town of carrara, by issuing multiple exhibition sites
(old sculpture laboratories and other abandoned buildings in the centre, where the signs
of time and neglect are evident) further express the dimension of transition which is the
leitmotif of the whole exhibition. it is perhaps easiest to find fertile territory for change
where disorientation is most evident.
the dust of the long-abandoned venues constituted the background to the the theme
of the exhibition: the transitoriness of the monument and therefore the questions regarding
its future. the distinctive display of the historical works, eradicated from their original
context of authoritarianisms and dictatorships in order to highlight how the fall of the
ideologies to which they clung signifies also the fall of their presence in the world,
is connected with the work of the 33 international contemporary artists, in full awareness
of this dissolution. the section on the languages of architecture deals with the idea that
it has taken over from sculpture in the monumentalization process, evidently still
present in society.
terence koh
boy by the roman sea, 2010 (aerial view)
image by valerio e. brambilla
beijing-born, new york-based artist terence koh has created 'boy by the roman sea'.
'I love simple things: poetry is my favourite form of art because it is simple,
monochrome is simple, and I love the simplest white statues because they give me serenity'.
therefore, for the biennale of carrara, koh further elaborated on the theme, developing a
sculpture which depicts him as a boy once again, curled up and in need of protection.
located on the seashore - molo di ponente beach - the sculpture is expressed in simple,
monochrome white marble.
terence koh
boy by the roman sea, 2010 (back view)
image by valerio e. brambilla
'boy by the roman sea' located on the molo di ponente beach, carrara
image by valerio e. brambilla
terence koh
'boy by the roman sea', 2010
image by valerio e. brambilla
marco ravenna, carrara carving out koh's 'boy by the roman sea'
image by valerio e. brambilla
terence koh
image by valerio e. brambilla
maurizio cattelan
untitled, 2010 situated inside the monumental cemetery of marcognano
carrara marble
240 x 120 x 242 cm
produced by studi d'arte cave michelangelo
photo by zeno zotti
© maurizio cattelan archive
'untitled' funeral monument by italian artist maurizio cattelan is an art nouveau-style
sculpture dedicated to bettino craxi (a discredited italian prime minister who had a strong
influence in the eighties).
cattelan's work for the biennale began months prior to the inauguration. aware of the strong
political identity of the carrara, cattelan saw the plaster for a sculpture of craxi in a laboratory.
his idea was based on a logical subsititution: a marble statue of the socialist leader replacing
the one dedicated to the italian icon giuseppe mazzini. it was the start of the typical cattelan case -
a media event met with both favour and disapproval (e.g. via a group fighting to save mazzini
on facebook and a republican meeting in carrara). regardless of the actual realization of the
project revealing that the idea of the monument is still alive, in may the answer 'no' to the
project came - for technical reasons - definitively putting an end to the possibility of seeing
the work realized. however, in the end, cattelan was able to celebrate the death of his idea
in the form of a liberty-style monument - two angles are depicted holding up a medal engraved
with craxi's profile - erected near the entrance of the monumental cemetery of marcognano.
detail photo by zeno zotti
© maurizio cattelan archive
maurizio cattelan arriving in carrara
image by valerio e. brambilla
paul mccarthy
shit, 2010
nut travertine
240 x 120 x 242 cm
image courtesy of italy travel
an irreverent artist obsessed with pop culture and the consumerism of american society,
los angeles-based artist paul mccarthy discovered for the first time, on the occasion of the biennale,
the potential of stone. creating the work 'shit', mccarthy's sculpture is made from 15 tons
of nut travertine and measures 3.60 metres long, almost the same in width and stands over
1 metre high, a huge mass in the shape of a turd. his choices, from the celebratory gigantification
of the proportions, to the central positioning of the sculpture in the public space of piazza gramsci,
mimick the old and recent canonical monuments which are present in carrara as elsewhere.
everything is perfect except the subject, which is revealed by its unmistakable shape and the
dark hues of the travertine stone. 
paul mccarthy
shit, 2010 located in piazza gramsci (former piazza d'armi)
image courtesy of la repubblica
paul mccarthy
image by valerio e. brambilla
antony gormley
2x2, 2010
carrara marble
188,6 x 57,2 x 40,8 cm
image by valerio e. brambilla
british sculptor antony gormley on his contribution '2x2' to the biennale:
'I first came to carrara in 1979 and made a few very small works in marble in
saturnia, tuscany. I was amazed by the scale and beauty of the mountains and how they
were cut by wires, and by the interface between the cuts’ absolute geometry and the chaos
of the mountains. when arriving in carrara it’s possible to mistake the marble for snow.
the quarries are a primary carving, making space where there was mass. the work is
called '2x2' and is a response to the demise of the workshops that I was shown which
formerly produced funerary monuments and reproduction carvings in great quantities
in the 19th and first half of 20th centuries, providing employment and community
in the region; a practice which continues, but in a very different way. my idea was to
exploit the advances we have made in digital design and make a work with the minimum
amount of hand work, where coordinates were directly transmitted electronically to
five axis routers working at the finest resolution. the work tests the evolution of art in the
time of mechanical reproduction, translating bone, skin and muscle into a crystalline packing
geometry that is not dissimilar to the structure of marble itself. this is my conceit;
to make a body image that in some way refers both to the great tradition of the naked body
in art but also reflects our new understanding of the suboptical properties of matter.
these nesting polyhedra are found both in foams and in the quasi-crystals that are the
microscopic condition of the calcium carbonate that makes up the metamorphic rock
structure of carrara marble. In making two figures for a 3 dimensional stereometry
the aim is to emphasise both the lack of uniqueness and the relation between the virtual
and the real.'
antony gormley
2x2, 2010 (detail)
image by valerio e. brambilla
antony gormley
image by valerio e. brambilla
cai guo-qiang
one thousand youngsters drawing david, production shot, 2010
marble block, plaster reproduction of michelangelo's david's bust, video projection
620 x 200 x 140 cm
marble block - installation by cave michelangelo
image by valerio e. brambilla
the work realized by chinese-born new york-based artist cai guo-qiang represents
a new element in his research of unification between east and west. 'one thousand youngsters
drawing david', consists of a large marble black which measures 620 x 200 x 140 cm,
with a plaster reproduction of michelangelo's david's bust and a video projection.
within the cave michelangelo, the primordiality of the block of marble from the apuan alps,
from which michelangelo extracted his david, meets the emulative manuality of beijing
academy students drawing reproductions of the famous sculpture. it is almost as if to say,
having gone through centuries and having been expressed in millions of forms, the fetish-sculpture
of the florentine master finally returns to the mountains from which it was born - but this time
made in china.
cai guo-qiang
one thousand youngsters drawing david, production shot, 2010
image by valerio e. brambilla
cai guo-qiang
one thousand youngsters drawing david, production shot, 2010
image by valerio e. brambilla
damián ortega
the egg, production shot, 2010
statuesque marble
Ø 80 cm
produced by C.B. artdesign, carrara
image by valerio e. brambilla
mexican-born berlin-based artist damián ortega declares that he wishes to set off
'a malicious process of transformation and dysfunction of real things' through the use
of optical illusions, recycled material and the creation of a short circuit of space /
time suspension. his work 'l'uovo' (the egg) is a reinterpretation in marble of one of the
well-known 'transformers' - the japanese robots of eighties' comic strips and cartoons.
at first glance 'l'uovo' reminds us of arnaldo pomodoro's spheres, but a careful second look
reveals the face of the robot within, ready to hatch inside it, alluding to the impetuous
force of life. the sculpture is a reflection on the future. it was created with a robot which
uses a modern 3D software, capable of reproducing all kinds of objects in stones,
and looks like a mechanical embryo. if 'l'uovo' could hatch, take shape and stand up,
we would be looking at a machine similar to umberto boccioni's 'forme uniche della continuità
dello spazio' (unique forms in the continuity of space).
damián ortega
the egg, production shot, 2010
image by valerio e. brambilla
damián ortega
the egg, production shot, 2010 (detail)
image by valerio e. brambilla
damián ortega
the egg, production shot, 2010 (detail)
image by valerio e. brambilla
damián ortega
the egg, production shot, 2010
image by valerio e. brambilla 
damián ortega
image by valerio e. brambilla
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