SWITCH
December 9, 2005 – January 22, 2006
Galerija Gregor Podnar/DUM Association is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of Christian Frosi, entitled Switch, curated by Mara Ambrožič.
The word ‘switch’ points in two directions: it refers to an altering of course, and, in the process, at the moment of change, a temporary suspension. It presents us with a lemma that in itself contains the root of a suspension. More precisely, we’re dealing with an interruption – not something static but rather a point of suspension between two states. The suspension that results from a ‘switch’ is closely linked to the question of thinking. If reason may be imagined as a continuous flow, then thinking is a dimension that manifests itself in the ability to step across the flow of reason. Even as small a gesture as a switch can make room for pure thinking and open up the possibility of perceiving its power.
Just such a tension can be found in Christian Frosi’s works, which are full of inner friction – interruptions in the approach to certain aspects of reality. Using a variety of materials and media – including sculpture, video, installation, sound works, and photography – Frosi explores themes connected with the perception and recognition of the social object. He tries to develop a looser system of criteria that frees the viewer to make her or his own judgment decisions.
Frosi’s works are formal systems of open circuits that change on the basis of precise codes, previously determined in time and space; these ‘instructions for use’ are reminiscent of constructivist poetic compositions. T and New Title 0 are presented as concepts of seriality or technological terms that reflect the inner workings of the “constant creating” of the art object more than its pure physicality.
His new video NZ presents the wild natural landscape of the Camargue in southern France, observed beneath an azure sky without a cloud, the result of a strong and steady wind. The landscape is occupied by a herd of white horses and a small construction covered in white graffiti. The precision with which this moment has been filmed allows the viewer to enter into a very intimate dimension of memory.
In a series of collages we find another kind of play, made up of fragments of used objects, a testimony to the experiences of 60s society, photographs and posters from the archive of Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix racing in Monza, public figures, and images of the Amazonian Pirahã society – all signs of the perpetual interweaving of the private sphere and modernity. Every moment of contemporary life occurs with interruptions, removals, and shifts, and the same may be said of the
present exhibition.
Christian Frosi lives and works in Milan. He is one of the upcoming representatives of the Italian art scene. Frosi has exhibited in various international galleries and museums, among them: 2003 Illusion of Security, Peripheries become the center, Prague Biennale 1, National Gallery, Veletrzni Plac, Prague; exIT. Nuove geografie della creatività italiana, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea, Turin; 2004 Project Room, Zink Gallerie, Munich; 2005 We Disagree, Andrew Kreps, New York; Follow Your Shadow, Premio Furla per l’Arte, GAM, Villa delle Rose, Bologna. He is currently showing at T1 – Turin Triennal 2005 (curated by Francesco Bonami and Carolin Christov Bagarkijev) at Palazzo Fuxas, Turin.
This exhibition has been made possible by support from the City of Koper – Capodistria, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Cultural Department of the City of Ljubljana. With kind support also from: Alessandro Merlo, Il Nuovo Moschettiere (Venice), Global Service Venice, Compuservice (Venice), Bever..in (Tiziano Zanardo) and Azienda Agricola Giorgio Cecchetto(Treviso). Special thanks: Galleria Zero… (Milan), Archive for Young Artists – Municipality of Venice.