“Hiding the Elephant” Edicolanotte 11 Jan 2013 – 11 Mar 2013

Hiding the Elephant | 11 Jan 2013 – 11 Mar 2013

After the assignment of young artists scholarship of Castello di Rivoli with Genealogies of Damnatio Memoriae 1965-1982, Turin, goldiechiari presents at Edicola Notte, Hiding the Elephant an installation, a prelude of their new round of research, recently presented in preview at Weld, Stockholm in collaboration with performer artist Lotta Melin.

Hiding the Elephant, refers to the spectacular performance of magician Harry Houdini who in 1918 made an elephant disappear in front of thousands of spectators at the Hippodrome in New York. The reference to the prestige of Houdini is related, in the work of goldiechiari, persuasorie practices and propaganda of the Western intelligence services during the Cold War.
In this case, Hiding the Elephant will be an exercise in political practices inspired illusionism of intelligence in hiding and uncomfortable reality disappear and dangerous characters exploiting the magical imagery and scenic devices.

goldiechiari refers to a series of performances-tricks of magicians Harry Houdini, Jasper Maskelyne and John Mulholland and focus their search on similarity in practice of deception and illusion in the representation of reality by the stage magic and intelligence policy. As argued James Angleton, head of counterintelligence at the CIA, “Deception is a state of mind and the mind of the State”

“Hiding the Elephant” Edicola Notte

goldiechiari, Hiding the Elephant, 2013, specchi e fumo

Dopo l’assegnazione della  borsa dei giovani artisti del Castello di Rivoli con l’opera Genealogie di Damnatio Memoriae 1965-1982, Torino. goldiechiari presentano ad Edicola Notte, Hiding the Elephant, una installazione, preludio del loro nuovo ciclo di ricerca, presentato recentemente in anteprima a Weld, Stoccolma in collaborazione con la performer artist Lotta Melin.

Hiding the Elephant, letteralmente occultando l’elefante, si riferisce alla spettacolare performance del mago Harry Houdini che nel 1918 fece scomparire un elefante di fronte a migliaia di spettatori all’ippodromo di New York. Il riferimento al prestigio di Houdini viene messo in relazione, nell’opera di goldiechiari, con le pratiche  persuasorie e propagandistiche dei servizi segreti occidentali durante la Guerra Fredda . In questo caso Hiding the Elephant  sarà un esercizio di illusionismo ispirato alle pratiche politiche dei servizi segreti nel nascondere e far scomparire realtà scomode e personaggi pericolosi sfruttando l’immaginario magico e i suoi dispositivi scenici.

goldiechiari fanno riferimento a una serie di performances-trucchi dei maghi Harry Houdini, Jasper Maskelyne e John Mulholland e concentrano la propria ricerca sulla similitudine nella pratica dell’inganno e  dell’illusione nella rappresentazione della realtà da parte della magia scenica e della politica dei servizi segreti.  Come sosteneva James Angleton, capo del controspionaggio della CIA, “Deception is a state of mind and the mind of the State” (l’inganno è uno stato mentale e la mente dello Stato).

Macro, Roma. Ritratto di una città. Arte a Roma 1960 – 2001

Embassy Goes Contemporary. Young Italian Art from the Museion Collection at the Italian Embassy in Berlin

 

Embassy Goes Contemporary. Young Italian Art from the Museion Collection at the Italian Embassy in Berlin

17/12/12 – 28/04/13

Opening 11/12/12, 7 pm

Curated by Letizia Ragaglia

From 17 December 2012 to 28 April 2013, works by more than 20 Italian artists from the Museion Collection will be on show in the historic reception halls of the Italian Embassy in Berlin, with  video, painted installations and photography.

The exhibition is part of a broader programme to promote Italian art supported by the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin, and is a natural progression from the exhibition series ITaliens, which aimed to promote the work of Italian artists living in the German capital. To continue with this successful initiative the Foreign Service has decided to invite a number of Italian institutions to present part of their collections: Museion of Bolzano is the first to exhibit in the prestigious venue on the Tiergarten, presenting a selection of young artists from the collection curated by the Director of the museum, Letizia Ragaglia.

Featured artists: Stefano Arienti, Monica Bonvicini, Letizia Cariello, Claire Fontaine, Michael Fliri, Martino Gamper, Werner Gasser, goldiechiari, Elisabeth Hölzl, Hilario Isola and Matteo Norzi, Francesco Jodice, Wilma Kammerer, Sonia Leimer, Marcello Maloberti, Philipp Messner, Brigitte Niedermair, Pietro Roccasalva, Martina Steckholzer, Esther Stocker and Nico Vascellari.

Ongoing work: Melin +Goldiechiari (IT) 17-18 nov @ Weld, Stockholm

 

Lördag 17/11 kl 16 & Söndag 18/11 kl 18
WELD | Norrtullsgatan 7 | Stockholm
Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth. – Theodor Adorno.
***
Background
The collaboration between goldiechiari and Lotta Melin began in 2007. The artist duo asked the choreographer Lotta to participate in the art video Dump Queen (5’, 2008).
In may 2011 Lotta Melin and goldiechiari run a three week long residence at Konstnärsnämndens international dance program in Stockholm, to start working on a new project together.
goldiechiari has since 2009 been working on Italian historical issues with the series Genealogy of Damnatio Memoriae, ( carved trees) and in particular the influences of Italian secret services in the terrorist attacks occurred from the 1969 till the 1980s in Italy, called the strategy of tension (right now exhibited  at the Castello di Rivoli Museum, Tourin, Italy).

Project
From the interest on secret services international practices and the focus on the character and tricks of the magician Harry Houdini , the new collaboration between Lotta Melin and goldiechiari started.
During one month in Stockholm, may 2011, we begun to shoot some pictures and to make some studies to realize a performance, using the magic tricks showing the relation between the idea of hiding reality and create an illusion in magic representation and the secret services politics devices of perform reality for the “stability and democracy” of States.
From this first reflections came out the storyboard for the video The Stay Behind Trick. A video inspired by the famous needle trick by the magician Harry Houdini. In the video the actor, playing the role of the magician,  will eat the writings of all the Stay Behind secret operations in Europe during  The Cold War. It’s a project about the metaphor of disappearing and illusion used by the secret services to hide their undercover operations, that deeply influenced european politics for 50 years.
In October 2012 we all met in Roma to continue our work and develop our first ideas. Inspired by the magician Houdini, we decided to go deeper into the way that magicians focus the attention of the spectator away from what is really going on stage.
Our research also focused on the first dada movies like: Georges Melies, Jean Coucteau, Renè Clair and others, related to the first way of manipulating and represent reality. We are very interested in the idea of invisibility, unreal, immateriality, hiding and disappearance. We want to go on with this research and connect these issues with the idea of uneality and magic, related to the new medias.

WELD
At the studio residence at WELD we will begin to produce these ideas on a more practical point of view. Start filming the first magic tricks and have the opportunity to experiment and work on a live performance.
The most interesting thing with this collaboration is the interdisciplinary way of collaborating and the mix of different languages. We are finding out a new way of working, enriched by the experience of the three of us.
During the period at WELD, we also have the opportunity to work with the dancer Henrietta Wallberg.

The group will during the weekend, 17th November at 16.00 and 18th at 19.00, open up there ‘ongoing work’ for audience at WELD.

 

 

Castello di Rivoli, to goldiechiari the 2012 edition of the Fellowship for Young Italian Artists

goldiechiari during the work in progress of the work Genealogy of damnatio memoriae Turin 1965-1982 Courtesy of Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli – Turin 2012
Photo byPaolo Pellion, Torino

To goldiechiari the 2012 edition of the Fellowship for Young Italian Artists

The Fellowship for Young Italian Artists promoted by the Castello di Rivoli and fully supported by the Association of supporting friends of the Museum, has been assigned to the goldiechiari’s project Genealogy of damnatio memoriae Turin 1965-1982.

Totally renewed, the Fellowship for Young Italian Artists of the Friends Association of the Museum
is no longer dedicated to a single artist, but becomes a larger project that includes a thematic exhibition and an award that is the acquisition of a work for the permanent collection the Museum. For the 2012 edition the selection of candidates was made among the artists of the exhibition History I never lived through(indirect witness), curated by Marcella Beccaria, Chief Curator at the Castello, the show has identified the relationship between the new generation and Italian history a prominent theme in the context of the Italian artistic production. As stated by Giovanni Minoli, President of the Museum – “these artists and their works bear witness that our history has a lot needs to be heard in order to overcome the fears, misgivings and the mysteries that surround and that art can be a tool to meet you “.

The winning entry was selected by a panel composed of the Supporting Friends, the President
and the Director of the Castello di Rivoli. The jury also included students and visitors who attended
the meetings of study related to the exhibition, held in collaboration with the authors of La Storia siamo noi, Media Partner of the event with 150 and Italy-Rai daily newspaper La Stampa.

The previous editions of the Fellowships have been awarded to Grazia Toderi (2001), Alessandra Tesi (2002), Margherita Manzelli (2003), Lara Favaretto (2004), Gianni Caravaggio (2005), Christian Frosi (2007), Alice Guareschi (2008) and Massimo Grimaldi (2009).

Supporting Friends of Castello di Rivoli

Marinella Guglielmi, President
Andrea Accornero, Charles Brignone, Chianale Angelo, Francesca Cilluffo, Gianfranco D’Amato, Paul Dardanelles, Raffaella Elijah Antonietti, Giorgio Fasol, Bruna Girodengo, Andrea Ruben Levi, Gianluca Spinola, Matteo Viglietta, Andrea Zegna

History I Never Lived Through (Indirect Witness), Castello di Rivoli,Turin

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