SUSPENDED VERGES
Edson Luli, Erjola Zhuka, Luca Marcelli Pitzalis and Gaia De Megni
Suspended Verges proposes a poetic experimentation of those moments in which we find ourselves approaching the edge of an existential threshold. It captures instances when we are paralysed by ideas of what could be if we take a specific pathway, feeling terrified yet excited to be in the limbo of possibilities. These works oscillate between the routine repetition of certain acts that reaffirm our being and the chaos of the unknown that will come into view when we surpass their restrictions. There is a sense of urgency and disorder that pervades the exhibition space, which appears in a contained and latent way.
The fact that the four artists are based in Italy has also sparked further reflections on how this lingering at the limits is experienced in different socio-cultural contexts. We perceive another way of understanding time and agency in the works of these Mediterranean artists; a different form of apprehending the temporal dimension of liminality.
Edson Luli. Fragmented chairs produce fragmented thoughts (2021)
Edson Luli’s installation Fragmented chairs produce fragmented thoughts (2021). A high-visibility neon sign warns us of an imminent danger: ‘chairs on the verge of collapse’. Yet, the implied commodity value of this stimulating media lures us to buy into the possibility of trying those chairs and risking a fall. On the opposite side of the room, the complexity of the installation piece meets the powerful simplicity of I don’t see any nouns .
A selection of images from Erjola Zhuka’s MyTh-ing (2020) dominates the next room. In this artist’s case, photography becomes an instrument of reflection to unveil hidden, unglamorous moments of the everyday that, in spite of their banality, define us. These stolen moments of absolute spontaneity are far-removed from the picture-perfect images of social media, bringing to the fore a more authentic, uncurated vision of Zhuka’s own family. Zhuka’s images are shown in opposing pairs; diptychs that encourage a comparative view, making the mundane extraordinary.
Luca Marcelli Pitzalis series of flags float in the gallery space with symbolic and resounding stoicism. MANIFESTO (2021),: ‘I couldn’t move nor speak, We will never surrender (2022), where salvation and defeat are part of the same contradictory, yet truthful, rhythm’. The last work in the series, which we are exhibiting here, is The flag on the highest tower (2022). In this case, the artist explains, he climbed the highest tower to ask his mother if he could come back home, and on that tower he raised his last flag, a dual depiction of beauty and disaster.
Il mito dell'eroe [The Hero’s Myth] (2021), by Gaia De Megni, announces the video that we will see in the basement. For the performance, De Megni decided to add glass medals to the uniform of the soldier in order to give ‘a sense of recognition without belonging’. For her, in a performance, the costume is like a second skin and the actor is the body that bridges the invisible space between fiction and reality. The still we are exhibiting freezes a moment when the restricted march of a military officer inundates the space of the Maremma Natural Park, becoming one with nature in spite of all odds. The rhythmic sound of the steps inundates the space of the gallery, inviting spectators to join in an imaginary procession. The video also aims to break barriers between the dogmatism of man-made institutions and the untameable force of nature..
Clara Garavelli in conversation with Patricia Bossio
References: Tsagarousianou, R. and Retis, J. (2019) ‘Diasporas, Media, and Culture. Exploring Dimensions of Human Mobility and Connectivity in the Era of Global Interdependency’, in Tsagarousianou, R. and Retis, J. (eds.) The Handbook of Diasporas, Media, and Culture, London: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Scannel, P. (1996) Radio, Television, and Modern Life, London: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.