IDEAL-TYPES [Chapter 2]
Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti and Elsa Barbieri
Marignana Arte
Venice, from 7 May to 7 September 2019
Opening: Tuesday, 7 May, 5:00 – 10:00 pm
Special openings: from Wednesday 8 to Sunday 12 May, 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Inspired by Max Weber’s theory, whereby for studying a social action without reducing its particularities to a collection of individual events we must start from the perception that the individual has of the real world, this ongoing exhibition project is designed as a speculative tool which makes possible to measure reality: the ideal-type (Idealtypus).
Athanasios Argianas, Maurizio Donzelli, Nancy Genn, Artur Lescher, James Lewis, Alice Pedroletti, Antonio Scaccabarozzi, and Verónica Vázquez, are the eight international artists invited to formulate an artistic language that visually translates the thought relationships when trying to set out a concept; they do so through the dialogue between their respective art works, and with gallery spaces. A methodological paradigm that is never traceable empirically in its conceptual purity, the ideal-type is intended as a utopia that shares characteristics with real objects, even if it does not correspond to any specific example. With it, the materiality of existence must be compared in order to illustrate the
significant elements of its empirical content.
It is thus a matter of adopting something imaginary or intangible to better understand the concrete. The concept does not copy real life but underlines its most intrinsic connections. Without any expectation of objectivity, the artists build a kind of seductive, meticulous and inconsistent verisimilitude to verify empirically. By isolating a particular phenomenon from the complex of interactions, and catching uniform elements in the repetition of the same, each one proceeds in structuring the ideal-type that operates as a unilateral and rational measuring device of reality.
The artworks on display question the viewers by encouraging them to develop always new readings on the being within a visual and spatial conversation. The three wall low reliefs from the series “Clay Pressings” (2016-18) by Athanasios Argianas suggest a liminal space where systems and mechanisms freely swap with intuition. The tapestry “Angelicato” (2014) by Maurizio Donzelli is the result of in-depth research about the manipulation of the image. Works on paper by Nancy Genn, “Construct Blu I” (2003),
“Construct Yellow” (2003) and “Rainbars 6” (2011), are earthy, solid, layered, full of spirituality. Their pure and raw material fits in the unique variations of colours and textures, releasing a sharp and delicate lyricism. The steel sculpture “Sem Título, Da Série Nexus #2” (2013) by Artur Lescher is composed of single pieces in suspension, which highlight their volume and deny the action of the force of gravity. The wood,
paint, resin and lead work by James Lewis, “Diseases of Warm Lands (Rhombus)” (2018), corresponds to an extinct star constellation and is a visual monument to the impossibility of defining the parameters of human understanding and endeavours. “Study for a sculpture” (2016-19) by Alice Pedroletti is a series of photographs and paper sculptures, accompanied by sketches, that recreate a hypothetical landscape. They are fragile and temporary prototypes that constitute a city inspired by organic shapes. The works from the series “Essenziali” (1990-95) by Antonio Scaccabarozzi are self-representations of the pictorial body; free strokes of pure colour, wide, oblique, accurate and strong, without any support. Result of the interpretation of the practise of assemblage and contemporary weaving, “De la série tapices con metales” (2016), “Escultura en acero I” (2016), and “Sin Título” (2018) by Verónica Vázquez express the reperforming value of the material
Artists:
Athanasios Argianas (1976, Athens, Greece; lives and works in London)
Maurizio Donzelli (1958, Brescia, Italy; lives and works in Brescia)
Nancy Genn (1930, San Francisco, United States; lives and works in San Francisco)
Artur Lescher (1962, São Paulo, Brazil; lives and works in São Paulo)
James Lewis (1986, London, England; lives and works in Vienna)
Alice Pedroletti (1978, Milan, Italy; lives and works in Milan)
Antonio Scaccabarozzi (1936 – 2010, Lecco, Italy)
Verónica Vázquez (1970, Treinta y Tres, Uruguay; lives and works in Uruguay)
Upcoming Exhibitions at MOSTYN
Shezad Dawood Leviathan Cycle, Episode 1: Ben (production still) 2017 HD Video, 12’52”. Courtesy of the artist and UBIK Productions
Shezad Dawood
Leviathan is an episodic narrative around notions of borders, mental health and marine welfare issues of foremost concern, resonating profoundly with both coastal locations and contemporary life.
A ten-part film cycle that will unfold over the next three years, the work draws connections between human activity and marine ecology. Three films have already been premiered in Venice, in conjunction with the 57th Art Biennale, with a fourth to be released in early September 2018.
In dialogue with a wide range of marine biologists, oceanographers, political scientists, neurologists and trauma specialists, Leviathan explores interconnections between these fields of work and will be presented through sculpture, textiles, museum specimens, films, conversations and online resource material.
As part of the first iteration of Leviathan after its Venice debut, Dawood will also show a newly commissioned painting drawing upon this specific context, and work with community groups based on the coastal location asking questions about how these issues might come to evolve in a future 20 to 50 years from now, and what that future might look like.
The exhibition is curated by Alfredo Cramerotti, MOSTYN Director, in dialogue with the artist.
Shoe 22, Playa Santa Maria, Havana, Cuba 2014. Fencing, Treadog Bay, Llŷn Peninsula, Wales 2016.
Mike Perry
Mike Perry’s work engages with significant and pressing environmental issues, in particular the tension between human activity and interventions in the natural environment, and the fragility of the planet’s ecosystems.
This major new exhibition brings together recent bodies of work addressing how the natural biodiversity of landscapes and marine environments is undermined and made toxic by human neglect, agricultural mismanagement and the pursuit of short-term profit at the expense of long-term sustainability.
Combining conceptual aesthetics with a pressing concern for the marine environment, Perry’s images shed a different light on the health of the seascapes one might see in tourist brochures.
Môr Plastig (welsh for ‘Plastic Sea’) is an ongoing body of work that classifies objects washed up by the sea into groupings; bottles, shoes, grids, abstracts, and others. By using a high-resolution camera to capture the surface detail, the artist allows the viewer to ‘read’ markings and scars etched into the objects by the ocean over months and, in some cases, years. The viewer is intrigued and challenged by how a polluting object can be so aesthetically appealing.
In Perry’s words, “in addition to seeing these pieces as symbols of over-consumption and disregard for the environment, I also see them as evidence of the beauty and power of nature to sculpt our world”.
Land/Sea is originally produced by Ffotogallery, Cardiff, and curated by David Drake, Ffotogallery, and Ben Borthwick, Plymouth Arts Centre. The exhibition in MOSTYN has been developed in dialogue with Adam Carr, Visual Arts Programme Curator, and Alfredo Cramerotti, Director. The accompanying publication includes contributions from the writers George Monbiot and Skye Sherwin.
Jonathan Monk, Picture Postcard Posted From Post Box Pictured, 2014.
In Addition
Participating artists from March 2018:
Nina Beier, Sol Calero, Gabriele de Santis, Alek O., Jonathan Monk, and Marinella Senatore
We are pleased to present ‘In Addition’, a new edition series of works, by internationally renowned artists, available to purchase at an affordable price.
MOSTYN is a charity registered in the UK and proceeds from the sales of the editions will be invested back into the gallery’s exhibition and engagement programme.
Each participating artist has produced work using paper and has been asked to reconsider the traditional model of producing an edition, where each version of a work is identical. Although appearing formally similar, each In Addition piece will offer deviations and nuances that set apart each edition as a unique work, thereby playing with ideas of the original, the copy and work made in series.
In Addition will be permanently installed as an exhibition in MOSTYN’s Gallery 2 from March 2018, and will change shape over time as editions are purchased and as further artists participate in the future.
In Addition has been curated by Adam Carr (Visual Arts Programme Curator, MOSTYN).
Press Coverage for Shezad Dawood’s Leviathan
Shezad Dawood – Leviathan – Fabbrica Fortuny
Link: http://www.rivistasegno.eu/events/shezad-dawood/
Un’ antiguida tra illusioni e leviatani
Il trailer di Leviathan, il nuovo film d’artista di Shezad Dawood
Link: http://www.artribune.com/television/2017/05/video-leviathan-nuovo-film-shezad-dawood/#
“Leviathan”, e resilienza. Ecco il progetto di Shezad Dawood, a cura di Alfredo Cramerotti, al Villino Canonica
di Irene Guida
Link: http://www.exibart.com/notizia.aspIDNotizia=53708&IDCategoria=59
Little Atoms (UK)
Passing but very positive mention, describing the show as “not to be missed”!
Link: http://littleatoms.com/art-design/private-politics-2017-venice-biennale
Un Ospite di Venezia (IT)
Nice local coverage of the film programme in collaboration with MUBI
Link: https://www.a-n.co.uk/news/venice-2017-26-recommended-pavilions-shows-individual-works
Agenda Venezia (IT)
Leviathan featured in their agenda
Link: http://www.agendavenezia.org/it/evento-38029.htm
Exibart (IT), Matteo Bergamini, 11.12.2016
IL FUTURO DELLA VIDEOARTE? TRA HBO E NETFLIX. E INTANTO L’ARTISTA INGLESE SHEZAD DAWOOD ANNUNCIA IL SUO FILM IN DIECI PARTI, APPUNTO
Link: http://www.exibart.com/notizia.asp?IDNotizia=51713&IDCategoria=204
ARTINFO (US), Nicholas Forrest, 12.12.2016
Shezad Dawood to Launch ‘Leviathan’ Film Cycle in Venice
ArtTribune (IT), Santa Nastro, 24.01.2017
Leviathan, parte da Venezia con una serie tv il progetto dell’artista Shezad Dawood
Aesthetica (UK), no byline/15.02.2017
Dystopian Communities
Link: http://www.asff.co.uk/dystopian-communities/
Flash Art (IT), Sara De Chiara, 25.04.2017
Flash Art 50
Link: http://www.flashartonline.it/2017/04/gli-eventi-collaterali/
The Guardian (UK), Hettie Judah, 7 May 2017.
I’ve created a monster! Shezad Dawood on his oceanic epic Leviathan
Il Manifesto (IT), Arianna di Genova, 9.05.2017.
Leviathan featured amongst top picks of the “alternative” guide to the Biennale. Includes Leviathan film still as central image.
Mr Porter/The Knowledge, Hettie Judah, 11.05.2017.
Shezad Dawood featured amongst Mr. Porter’s selection of industry heavyweights to look out for at the Venice Biennale
WHO TO SPOT AT THE VENICE BIENNALE
Link: https://www.mrporter.com/journal/the-knowledge/who-to-spot-at-the-venice-biennale/2132
ATP Diary (IT), Marco Arrigoni, 13.05.2017:
In-depth interview with Shezad and Alfredo on the origins of Leviathan and the issues it tackles.
Shezad Dawood | Palazzina Canonica e Fabbrica Fortuny, Venezia
Link: http://atpdiary.com/shezad-dawood-venice/
Artribune (IT), Ludovico Pratesi, 14.05.2017:
Biennale di Venezia. L’editoriale di Ludovico Pratesi
Al Jazeera (ME), Charlie Angela, 15.05.2017:
Interview with Shezad and filming in the library of the Canonica as part of broadcast feature on the Venice Biennale.
Venice Biennale: Refugee crisis takes centre stage
ArtAsiaPacific (MENASA), HG Masters, 15.05.2017
57TH VENICE BIENNALE, PART 4: COLLATERAL EXHIBITIONS
Link: http://artasiapacific.com/Blog/57thVeniceBiennaleDay4
South China Morning Post (CN), Enid Tsui, 15.05.2017
Venice Biennale 2017 round-up: political undertones everywhere, but it’s not all despair and anger
artnet news, Hettie Judah (US), 14.05.2017
The Turned-On Biennale: An Orgy of Liberal Sex and Liberal Guilt Greets Visitors in Venice
Link: https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/the-x-rated-biennale-venice-2017-960158
L’Uomo Vogue (IT), Elena Bordignon, May Issue.
DOMUS (IT), no byline, 16.05.2017
Shezad Dawood’s exhibition in Venice is a reflection on where we could be if a deeper understanding of trauma and climate erosion is not found. #BiennaleArte2017
Link: http://www.domusweb.it/content/domusweb/en/news/2017/05/16/leviathan_shezad_dawood.html
BBC Wales (UK), Evening News, 16.05.2017
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ql51q
Sky Arte (IT), Giovanni Zaninotto, 22.05.2017
Vogue India (IN), Shahnaz Siganporia
Socialter (FR), Manon Grad Manoukianand
Crash (FR), Annabelle Leturq
DAWN (PK), Virginia Whiles
Mutual Art: APT Collection
Shezad Dawood | Leviathan, 7 May-24 September 2017 Palazzina Canonica, Venice, Italy
The Artnewspaper
Collaterals and extras: the Biennale’s other shows
Downloadable PDF: TANMay2017
Shezad Dawood: Leviathan; 2017, courtesy of the artist and UBIK Productions
ATP diary – Interview
【娱乐】LEAP Forum Venice
Link: http://www.iqiyi.com/w_19ru524kct.html
Elephant Issue 33 |Shezad Dawood: Leviathan
The Absence of Path
Leviathan Episode 2 – Yasmine
Link: http://www.theabsenceofpaths.com/commission/leviathan-episode-2-yasmine
Socialter
Plongée dans le Monde Catacysmique de Shezad Dawood
Face à la mer
Read full article here
Vogue India | July 2017 Issue
Great lengths
Read full article here
Art Radar | June 2017
Shezad Dawood launches his ten-part film cycle during the 57th Venice Biennale
La Stampa | Venezia l’arte sull’ambiente invade Campi e Calli
Artarius Media | My Art Guide
Shezad Dawood — Venice
Matteo Fato (SOMERSAULT) | curated by Alfredo Cramerotti | Opening: 22.07.2017 h.18.30 | Galleria Michela Rizzo
Matteo Fato
(SOMERSAULT)
Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti
Galleria Michela Rizzo | Venice, Italy
Opening: 22.07.2017, h.18.30
23.07 – 09.09.2017
In the past our technologically conceived artifacts structured living patterns. We are now in transition from an object-oriented to a systems-oriented culture. Here change emanates, not from things, but from the way things are done.
(Jack Burnham, System Esthetics, 1968)
Burnham, an art critic and curator, wrote the passage above for an essay in Artforum magazine back in 1968; processes of change take time indeed. In the case of visual culture, and the physical environment underpinning it, the system is both the space (for work) and the material (of the work); concerning with method and form together.
A “visual system” sits at the crossroad between image, thought, word and time; it exemplifies the mutability (and complexity) of life. A visual medium then brings about not only the message, but the psychic state that enable us to understand that message: “A mental structure, a way of thinking and feeling that expresses itself in everything we say, write, build and develop, from architecture and advertising to film and fine art.”
The presumed coherence of visual practice is constantly called into question by coupling with other system of visual fabrication, communication or representation (text, painting, impression, graphic design, photography, light projection, object construction and oral commentary). It is an environment made of relation-building amongst sign and signal, people and objects. Our visual actions extract meaning upon which build further relations and effects, either autonomously or through conscious arrangements. In Burnham’s words, “Where the object almost always has a fixed shape and boundaries, the consistency of a system may be altered in time and space, its behavior determined both by external conditions and its mechanisms of control.”
We live now according to a system of visual editing; we became a wider, complex “system” in which users double as creators.
On systems, Alfredo Cramerotti
Friday | 12 May No Way Out. Notes on the Philosophical Implications of the Concept of Anthropocene with Franco “Bifo” Berardi in conversation with Sandro Carniel (CNR – ISMAR)
Friday | 12 May 2017
5pm
No Way Out. Notes on the Philosophical Implications of the Concept of Anthropocene with Franco “Bifo” Berardi in conversation with Sandro Carniel (CNR – ISMAR). Introduced and moderated by Alfredo Cramerotti.
Palazzina Canonica
Riva dei Sette Martiri, 1364
Vaporetto Giardini
See full schedule below
Friday | 12 May My Art Guides Venice Meeting Point “An Ocean Archive” Symposium
Friday | 12 May 2017
3pm
My Art Guides Venice Meeting Point “An Ocean Archive” Symposium
NAVY OFFICER’S CLUB
ARSENALE, VENICE
Thursday | 11 May Lost Identities Cristina Cattaneo (Labanof) with Prefetto Vittorio Piscitelli (Commissario Straordinario per le Persone Scomparse)
Thursday | 11 May 2017
3:30pm
Lost Identities Cristina Cattaneo (Labanof) with Prefetto Vittorio Piscitelli (Commissario Straordinario per le Persone Scomparse). Introduced and moderated by Alfredo Cramerotti
Palazzina Canonica
Riva dei Sette Martiri, 1364
Vaporetto Giardini
See full schedule below
Thursday | 11 May Leviathan: A Beginning. Shezad Dawood in conversation with Alfredo Cramerotti
Thursday | 11 May 2017
2pm
Leviathan: A Beginning. Shezad Dawood in conversation with Alfredo Cramerotti
Palazzina Canonica
Riva dei Sette Martiri, 1364
Vaporetto Giardini
Shezad Dawood, Leviathan Cycle (production stills), 2017. HD video. Courtesy of the artist and UBIK Productions.
Shezad Dawood | Leviathan
Shezad Dawood, Leviathan Cycle (production stills), 2017. HD video. Courtesy of the artist and UBIK Productions.
May 7–September 24, 2017
Shezad Dawood
Leviathan
An episodic narrative
Palazzina Canonica
Riva dei Sette Martiri 1364A, Castello
30122 Venice
Italy
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10am–6pm
Fortuny Factory
Giudecca 805
30133 Venice
Italy
Hours: Monday–Friday 10am-1pm, 2pm-6pm
An exhibition of a new and ambitious body of work by artist Shezad Dawood will open in May 2017 to coincide with the 57th Venice Biennale. The show will mark the launch of Leviathan, a ten-part film cycle conceived and directed by the artist that will unfold over the next three years. Leviathan is also being released as a series of written fictions. Episode 1 is available to read at www.leviathan-cycle.com.
The first two episodes of the film will be presented alongside a new series of textile and sculptural works in the newly-restored Palazzina Canonica, the former headquarters of the Institute of Marine Sciences in Venice, which is opening to the public for the first time since the 1970’s. The two-part exhibition will also feature a site-specific intervention in the Fortuny Factory in the island of Giudecca.
Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti, Leviathan is being presented by the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in collaboration with the Institute of Marine Sciences (CNR-ISMAR) and Fortuny in Venice. Following the launch in May, the project will embark on a three-year UK and international tour, culminating in a final presentation of all ten episodes in 2020.
Leviathan is set in an imaginary future whose inhabitants are the survivors of a cataclysmic solar event. Each episode is told from the point of view of a different character and follows them as they drift across Europe, Asia and North Africa, encountering a series of idiosyncratic communities. Filming locations include the Institute of Marine Sciences’ oceanographic platform in the Adriatic Sea, the Natural History Museum in London and an abandoned island in the Venetian lagoon.
In dialogue with a wide range of marine biologists, oceanographers, political scientists, neurologists and trauma specialists, Dawood has been exploring some key fault lines of the present and their possible interconnections. Taking a global and collective approach, Leviathan is a reflection on where we could be if a deeper understanding of trauma and climate erosion is not found, looking at what is not only a humanitarian crisis, but a wider crisis within our biosphere.
The new series of textile paintings has been developed in dialogue with the renowned textile manufacturer Fortuny, and will incorporate several of their hand-made fabrics. Dawood has furthermore been working closely with the Labanof in Milan, an institute that conducts research on personal effects lost by migrants during sea crossings to Lampedusa, in order to help families identify missing relatives. A series of artefacts and objects from the Labanof archive will provide the visual references for the new textile works.
The paintings will be installed in the library of the Palazzina Canonica, as well as in the showroom of the Fortuny factory in the Giudecca, established in 1919 and still operational today. In addition, a large-scale outdoor neon work titled Island Pattern, developed especially for the Fortuny Factory, will be unveiled within the garden façade of the building.
The exhibition in Venice will be accompanied by a lively public programme that will bring together specialists involved in the project for a series of informal discussions akin to the philosophical “agora” in Ancient Greece. These discussions will also be available in digital form through the project’s web platform, creating an archive aimed at scientists, researchers, students and the general public. In addition, a special film programme curated by Shezad Dawood in collaboration with streaming platform MUBI will run throughout the duration of the exhibition, with free film screenings taking place at the Palazzina Canonica.
The third film episode will be released in September 2017 and incorporated into the exhibition. Subsequent episodes will be co-commissioned and presented in partnership with a series of international venues, culminating in the presentation of all ten episodes in 2020.
The project is being developed with the support of Timothy Taylor, Outset Contemporary Art Fund, Galerie Gabriel Rolt, CREAM – University of Westminster, University of Salford Art Collection with support from The Contemporary Art Society and a circle of private patrons.
Furla Award 2011
VOGUE ITALIA
by Fabiana Gilardi
Published:
11/18/2010
The names of the five finalists and of the curators, protagonists of the eighth edition of one of the Italian excellence awards that support young contemporary artists, were announced
Curatorview [Alfredo Cramerotti] 
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