"Man is by nature a social animal." So wrote Aristotle in his seminal philosophical text, Politics. The Ancient Greek thinker was theorizing how humans depend on normalized interaction to thrive. Compared to the time when Aristotle lived, more than 2,000 years ago, today mankind is far more connected. Technological advances have brought us to a place where communication with someone on the other side of the world can be achieved almost instantly. Rather than being sequestered in individual nations, we can truly say that we live in a global society.
“We are connected much more than years ago, but differently, because we evolved,” says Maurizio Gavazzi, the experimental mixed media artist whose exhibition, AOTI: Archive of the Infinite, is opening in Guangzhou this month. “My art is always about evolving, transformation and technology, and the underlying connections between people.”
Aristotle’s quote is important to Gavazzi – in fact, he describes it as one of the most central, uniting concepts of his oeuvre – but just as important is the fact that the way we socialize today is changing all the time.
In one of the pieces the Italian is bringing to Guangzhou’s Canton Place this month, a cell phone has been inserted inside a fairly standard glass bottle – the kind a stranded castaway would have used, once upon a time, to carry a scribbled SOS. The inference is clear: the quaint image of the message in the bottle is alien to our modern life, something we will only encounter in the swashbuckling adventures and romantic tales of yesteryear.
“Everything I create needs to come back to my principal vision about people evolving. We are still evolving, and now we are evolving through technology,” says Gavazzi, as he explains some of his core beliefs. Maybe in the future, he muses, we will be half human, half robot.
In some ways, his art has already moved closer to such a hybrid. Gavazzi has employed many forms of media in order to find fresh meaning in objects, but his most recent projects have revolved around striking moving sculptures that are controlled by human whim. Using a remote control, the motion of the parts can be manipulated. The idea is that the artwork is forever altering to reflect the viewer’s emotions and impulses.
From his studio in Bergamo, Italy, the former bank director shows us, via his laptop camera, the materials he uses to mold his kinetic art. Sheet metal, recycled bicycle chains, a motor engine and cans of paint are scattered about the wooden-beamed space. Through the window, one can just glimpse hints at a picturesque suburban locale. Within such a sanctuary, it’s no wonder that Gavazzi is such a philosophical man.
The title of his Guangzhou exhibition draws on a poem by one of Italy’s most famous poets, Giacomo Leopardi. In ‘The Infinite,’ Leopardi writes that as he sits and gazes at “the horizon’s furthest reaches,” he becomes aware of “an endless space still beyond” that frightens him with its depth. Yet it also thrills him: “Into this immensity my thought sinks ever drowning, and it is sweet to shipwreck in such a sea.”
“My artwork right now, the pieces I will bring [to Guangzhou], the theme is the universe,” explains Gavazzi. “I was thinking that if we take in all the things we can see in the universe, we will realize that we are just a small little planet, and we need to protect it – or we need to think of other planets where we will need to go in the future. I want us to have these images of the universe very clearly in our minds, to prepare us for the future.”
There are many real-world concerns addressed in Gavazzi’s work: the environmental impact mankind is having on the planet; the enormity of the cosmos; evolving technology; human interaction. In representing these concerns, he always seems to be looking for ways to reinvent his aesthetic style, to find new meaning in old objects. It’s no surprise that two of his greatest artistic inspirations are Piero Manzoni and Marcel Duchamp.
Gavazzi has carefully planned his show in Guangzhou so that it takes into account the exhibition area in Canton Place, transforming it into an interactive organism. “I am trying to recreate my thinking, my way to make art on that space, to connect it to that space, using some of the chairs and tables already in that space, but becoming my laboratory, like the one I have in Italy.
“It will not be just walking and seeing one painting and reading something and going to another one. I will create some islands where there will be some lights, some instruments, some special music, so you will go inside this space and you will feel the connectivity.”
AOTI: Archive of the Infinite runs from May 21-28. The opening party takes place on May 21 at 7pm, free entry. Canton Vision.
0 User Comments