Sorry for any crossposting
Traffic Gallery - New International Multimedia Centre & Digicult =
presents:
"OP7" by OTOLAB: THE EXHIBITION
November 8 - December 31, 2007
Curated by: Marco Mancuso and Claudia D'Alonzo for Digicult
Exhibition opening | Wednesday, November 7 | 18.30 / 21.30 hrs
Traffic Gallery: Via San Tomaso 92, Bergamo - Italy
———–
Videoclips, visual art, installations and artistic visual performances; =
this is the orientation of the new-born Traffic Gallery in Bergamo, a =
gallery specialized in digital, multimedia and videoart, set up with the =
intention of promoting the new contemporary art trends expressed by the =
very last generations.
Starting November 8, Traffic Gallery will host the exhibit "op7", by the =
Milan-based collective otolab, curated by Marco Mancuso and Claudia =
D'Alonzo for Digicult, a project of electronic culture and digital art =
diffusion. Otolab was born in 2001 as an identity grouping musicians, =
djs, vjs, videoartists, videomakers, web designers, graphic designers =
and architects who share the will to research the interweavings between =
sound and image. Through a laboratorial practice focused on the sharing =
of experience and knowledge, otolab has produced collective and =
individual projects that range from livemedia performances to =
installations, from experimental electronic music to techno, thus =
featuring different approaches to experiment hybrid perceptions of =
synthetic sounds and visions.
The exhibit at Traffic Gallery wants to document and reinterpret one of =
otolab's most recent live performance works, "op7". Conceived in 2006 =
for the Mixed Media festival which took place in the Hangar Bicocca in =
Milano, it will be presented with a video installation of the work, a =
tryptich and seven photographic prints taken from the original video =
material.
"op7" was a site-specific commission by Marco Mancuso/Digicult within =
the curatorial work for the Mixed Media 2006 festival, with the aim of =
inviting the Milan-based collective to dialogue with the "I sette =
palazzi celesti" (The seven heavenly buildings) of Belgian artist Anselm =
Kiefer, seven post-industrial towers that are permanently located in the =
Hangar Bicocca in Milano. Thanks to a five-screen projection, Otolab set =
up an optical path through seven tunnels of minimal black and white.
The sounds generate bidimensional shapes organized around a horizon, the =
only fulcrum in the emptiness, an axis around which "op7" plays with the =
spectator's eyes, deceiving the retina while generating illusory =
three-dimensional environments born off an inlay of flat geometry. Each =
of the seven tunnels is introduced by a moment of sensorial suspension =
that invites the spectator to abandon the former and prepare for the =
next voyage: six peripherical zones characterized by pulviscular sounds =
and pictorial visions created by the Pepposcope, an optical tool =
projected by the collective and here exhibited.
Otolab has set up self-organized cultural initiatives and organized =
seminars and workshops. The first retrospective on the collective's work =
dates back in 2004, curated by Lucrezia Cippitelli, at MLAC, Museo =
Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea di Roma. The group has taken part with =
livesets and installations in national and international exhibits and =
events, such as:
- Dissonanze '06, Roma
- Clubtransmediale '05, Berlin
- Arte Nuevo Interactiva '05, Bienal Internacional de Merida, Mexico
- Istanbul Contemporary Art Museum, Turkey
- Gallery Noass, Art and Culture Project Noass, Riga, Latvia
- Netmage '04, Bologna
———–
CREDITS:
Catalogue texts: Marco Mancuso and Claudia Antimonelli
Press agency: Claudia D'Alonzo for Digicult
With the participation of: Icona Arti Grafiche Digitali
———–
TEXTS:
Exhibition Critical Text:=20
http://www.digicult.it/public/CriticalText_%20ENG.doc
Exhibited Works: http://www.digicult.it/public/ExhibitedWorks_ENG.doc
Bio Otolab: http://www.digicult.it/public/BioOtolab_ENG.doc
Bio Curators: http://www.digicult.it/public/BioCurators_ENG.doc
———–
LINKS:
www.otolab.net
http://www.digicult.it/en/
http://www.digicult.it/en/2007/otolabop7.asp
http://www.trafficgallery.org/
———–
INFO:
Opening and cocktail, Wednesday November 7, from 18.30 to 21.30hrs
Opening to the public | November 8 - December 31, 2007 | Free entrance
Opening time | from Tuesdays to Saturdays | 10-13hrs 16-19hrs | Closed =
on=20
Sundays and Mondays
———–
DIGICULT is a cultural project involved in digital culture and =
electronic arts. DigiCult project is directed by Marco Mancuso and based =
on the active participation of 40 professional people about, who =
represent the first wide Italian network of journalists, curators, =
artists and critics in the field of electronic culture. And on a =
multitude of updated strategies around new media communication and =
networking activities. DigiCult is a web portal but is also the editor =
of the monthly magazine DigiMag, discussing with a critic and =
journalistic approach, about net art, hacktivism, video art, =
electronica, audio video, interaction design, artificial intelligence, =
new media, software art, performing art. DigiCult produce an electronic =
music and audiovisual podcast and the newsletter international service =
DigiNews. DigiCult is involved in side-activities like media =
partnerships and journalistic/critic reports, consultancy and curatorial =
activities and artists international promotion.
http://www.digicult.it/en
http://www.digicult.it/digimag_eng/index.asp
http://www.digicult.it/podcast/
http://www.digicult.it/en/Credits.asp
