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CLOUDS

GEORGIE FRIEDMAN (USA) | ALMUT LINDE (Germany) | SISSA MICHELI (Austria)

MARIE-LUCE NADAL (France) | URSULA PALLA (Switzerland)

February 25, 2023 – April 30,* 2023

Reception: February 25, 2023 | 7:00 PM

* Extended from April 15

Muratcentoventidue Artecontemporanea

via Murat, 122/b - 70123 Bari, Italy

In meteorology a cloud is a hydrometeor made up of minute particles of condensed water and/or ice crystals, suspended in the atmosphere usually not in contact with the ground.

Considering clouds as mere natural phenomena could actually be a great limit. Clouds have always fascinated man and the theme of clouds, present in iconography since ancient times, has been a great source of inspiration over the centuries, especially in painting and photography.

In particular, in the 1800s landscape painting experienced a period of great splendor and, within this genre, artists paid increasing attention to the motif of clouds: these strange and elusive formations that appear as carriers of emotions capable of hypnotizing the man who projects his dreams and fantasies into them.

In the 21st century they continue to fascinate many artists, while environmental and political issues also come into play. In some works, masses of clouds appear out of control, they are caused either by natural or man-made disasters, such as exhaust fumes and atomic explosions.

In the context of globalization, virtualization, the cloud is now emerging as a model to describe the complexity of contemporary relationships. It is becoming a symbol of networked information architecture, geopolitical relations and new concepts of space.

Georgie Friedman (United States) is an interdisciplinary artist whose projects include large-scale video installations, single and multi-channel videos and several photographic series. She is interested in our psychological and societal relationships to mild and severe natural phenomena. She investigates a wide range of powerful atmospheric and oceanic conditions, and is fascinated by the power of these natural elements in relationship to human fragility. She utilizes photography, video, sound, installation, engineering and the physics of light, all in order

to create new experiences for viewers.

"Sky Study II, Gray on Gray" allows for real-time, close observations of the subtle details and tonal shifts of storm clouds; something which people may think are homogeneous. The artist revels about her work, “I've often thought about how to film fog (low lying clouds) obscuring a view in relation to the idea of "absence" or "invisibility" without having to reveal what it is obscuring. As one avenue of approaching this idea, "Sky Study II, Gray on Gray" focuses on the layering and movement of the thick gray clouds, which have form in relation to the light and particles around them, yet never reveal the blue sky.”

Instead of brush and canvas, Almut Linde (1965 in Lübeck) works with people and social systems. “The world is my studio,” says the artist, who goes to towns and areas that do not, at first glance, seem to have any sort of artistic potential. Whether in a traveling circus or on military maneuvers, the eye of the sensitive observer always sees the blind spot of perception. Working with others, she develops performances that result in action photographs, sculptures, and installations, and go beyond mere exposure or documentation to raise fundamental questions about human existence, such as the difference between individual autonomy and structural conditions in social systems. Using processes of Concept Art, Minimal Art, and Action painting, the artist has created an aesthetic of her own that makes the actions behind the works appear both truthful and beautiful.

In Sea of Clouds/29.3 Tons CO2 a sea of clouds in front of a blue sky reveals its originafter a few seconds. The likeness to a beautiful sea of clouds from idyllic landscape painting collides with the knowledge of its origin. According to the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register the city of Grevenbroich tops the chart of the ten dirtiest cities in Europe. Generating electricity from brown coal is among the dirtiest technologies, with the highest CO2 emissions.

The expressive research of Sissa Micheli, an artist from Alto Adige, who lives and works in Vienna, revolves around the still and moving image, utilising all means of photography, video and installation. Her works are typically linked to particularly topical themes and to observations of reality that the artist translates into metaphors, highlighting the limits of our functional system to stimulate a critical analysis of our society.

In the exhibition “MOUNTAIN PIECES. Reflecting History” Sissa Micheli deals with the theme of war and peace and confronts visitors not only with the beauty of the South Tyrolean mountains, but also with their wartime past. The settings for her artistic exploration are selected war zones and sites of the Alpine Wall in the massifs of Alta Pusteria. The focus is on interventions to commemorate the fallen of the First World War on the Alpine front. Sometimes the artist herself takes on the role of protagonist in her works and thus becomes part of the picture. Her self-portrayal is a form of symbolic representation that examines the confrontation with identity and history.

Sissa Micheli wants her works to be understood as temporary performative memorials to crimes against humanity. The artist’s role is that of a researcher. Thus, in addition to reports and archival material, she also uses stories and literature as a source of inspiration to refer to the erosion of the memory of the atrocities of the Alpine War. Through photography and video, Sissa Micheli asks critical questions and creates irritation and irony, allowing viewers to find their own interpretations and meanings of peace against the backdrop of the mountains.

Marie-Luce Nadal (MLN, born in France in 1984) is a transdisciplinary eco-feminist and queer visual artist & researcher. MLN is interested in the scientific and mystical relationships that we nurture with our environment, especially with our atmosphere. MLN creates performative machine-works, which have the particularity of combining plastic singularity, scientific research and technical viability with the intention that these objects may be used or deployed by the audience.

This fascination is especially haunted by the direct impact of atmospheric phenomena. Meteorological and artistic experiences are part of Marie-Luce’s universe. An organic and spiritual relationship binds her to the sky. Through modern forms of writing, embodied in movement and image, systems of projections and metonymies, through variations of scales and animated reproductions of atmospheric systems, MLN seeks to rediscover this vitality, to put it forward and to nourish it in the minds of the audience.

Faire Pleurer les Nuages (Make the Clouds Cry) is an outdoor performance created by the artist in direct continuity with her grandfather's farmer practice; cloud seeding. At dawn or dusk, after a fencing duel, the artist uses a crossbow made of steel and bra wire with breath's ammunition, sulfur and dynamite to shoot in the clouds and make the sky cry.

Ursula Palla lives and works in Zurich. After 2000 the artificiality of nature crystallizes ever more clearly as the central theme of her multimedia-based oeuvre. In the form of videos and sculptures made of bronze, which are sometimes grouped together as installations, she critically questions the appropriation and manipulation of nature by human beings.

Her works, which are preceded by well-founded research, suggest a paradisiacal state on a formal-aesthetic level. On closer inspection, the beautiful appearance falls apart at the contradictions of the details. Illusion and reality enter into a tense relationship in her works.

The artist interweaves video with spatial sculptures and works with sensitive materials such as cast sugar, coal dust, and snow in her artistic practice. An enchanting aesthetic makes this accessible on a first level. At the same time, all works are based on comprehensive research, the knowledge of which fully reveals the depth and urgency of the works. Ursula Palla’s videos and spatial installations, such as “The Wolke”in this exhibition, are poetic and at the same time reveal empty spaces that often leave us feeling stale and remind us of our responsibility towards nature and the environment.

Muratcentoventidue-Artecontemporanea

Via G. Murat 122/b – Bari

next to Corso Vittorio Veneto and Svevo Castle.

HOURS

Thursday to Saturday 5.30 - 8.30 pm

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday by appointment

CONTACT

3348714094– 392.5985840

info@muratcentoventidue.com

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REVIEWS:

"'Clouds,' ovvero le nuvole non sono più le stesse" ["Clouds," that is to say, the clouds are no longer the same,] Antonella Marino, La Repubblica di Bari, Italy, March 14, 2023

"Se l'arte interroga le nuvole per combattere l'inquinamento" [Art interrogates the clouds to fight pollution], Pietro Marino, Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, Bari, Italy, March 2, 2023

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