Writing

PHANTASMAGORIA
Testo di Valentina Galossi

Negli ultimi anni, Yvonne Andreini ha sviluppato una pratica artistica ispirata a fotografie di situazioni reali, principalmente conviviali tra persone-attori che si riuniscono a tavola. Catturare questo momento significa, per l’artista, visualizzare in particolare l’energia cinetica di quei corpi che si muovono nello spazio e nel tempo. Dallo scatto fotografico, Andreini passa al dipinto figurativo della stessa scena, ma gradualmente agisce sulla tela de-costruendo la scena stessa e dando origine a raffinati dipinti astratti. Andreini lavora il processo di stratificazione sulla tela a livello drammaturgico: il quadro può subire notevoli trasformazioni, cambiando ritmo, segno, colori e spazio. Nelle opere dell’artista, gli oggetti si delineano come ombre leggere in movimento; i corpi svaniscono e si trasformano in spiriti. Questa metamorfosi si manifesta, ad esempio, in “Spiriti in Festa”, dove Andreini celebra il “Geist”, inteso nella doppia accezione di spirito e di anima, e porge un brindisi agli spettri che ci circondano!

La parola “φάντασμα” (phantom), fantasma, proviene dal greco antico e la “Phantasmagoria” nel XVIII sec. era una forma di teatro che usava una versione modificata della lanterna magica per proiettare immagini spaventose come scheletri, demoni e fantasmi su muri, fumo o schermi semi-trasparenti; nelle opere di Yvonne Andreini in mostra questa forma teatrale è inspiratrice e si traduce nell’astrazione delle figure sulla tela: l’artista trascende i confini spazio-temporali e con i suoi dipinti genera un’energia totale visibile.

La “Weltanschauung”, la visione del mondo basata sul divenire, uno scorrere senza fine della realtà, un perenne nascere e morire delle cose, guida e orienta l’opera di Andreini. Con le sue pennellate ampie, dense e vivaci l’artista agisce sulla tela e la trasforma strato dopo strato: sottrae, applica, scuote e con delicatezza dà vita al movimento. Nell’opera “Celebrazioni” la materia cambia forma sotto i nostri occhi e ondate di colore cullano lo spettatore che lentamente inizia a danzare.
Yvonne Andreini ha studiato con Hanns Schimansky, noto per disegnare quasi
esclusivamente in bianco e nero o con un solo colore alla volta. Per anni, l’artista ha
prevalentemente utilizzato la tecnica del disegno, anche in formati molto grandi, dove il segno e la linea definivano il suo lavoro. Successivamente, ha iniziato una ricerca per trovare un metodo che le consentisse di integrare i due media, attribuendo loro lo stesso identico valore: un linguaggio che fosse sia linea, sia spazio. È stata una lotta continua, come dice l’artista stessa, “per non far vincere né l’uno né l’altro”.

I lavori di Andreini si caratterizzano per un’estetica del bello, ma la sua arte innesca un continuo processo di trasformazione che coinvolge anche l’osservatore. Nel corso del tempo, l’artista focalizza la sua ricerca sul concetto di forza come movimento interiore, preludio a un movimento esterno. Osserviamo i quadri di Yvonne Andreini e ci sorprendiamo di come quelle pennellate così precise lascino spazio alla contemplazione e al confronto profondo con noi stessi.
Se si fa riferimento al futurismo di Giacomo Balla, è cruciale interpretarlo da un punto di vista interno verso l’esterno, seguendo la stessa prospettiva di Andreini. L’obiettivo per l’artista non è tanto quello di rappresentare il movimento esterno o il dinamismo, ma piuttosto di esplorare le dinamiche interne più lente del movimento e come queste possano riflettersi all’esterno. Tentare di separarle risulterebbe inutile. Possiamo affermare che nelle creazioni di Yvonne Andreini nulla è immobile; la scena sotterranea si trasforma in una danza, in una vibrante sinfonia. La sensazione di vibrazione che si sprigiona quando un corpo avverte un suono, un flusso che permea attraverso i bassi e si intreccia con il ritmo. L’intento è trasmettere l’idea che gli oggetti non siano statici.
Nelle sue opere più recenti, il colore guadagna un ruolo di rilievo: tonalità rarefatte ma distinte; colori fluorescenti ma smorzati. La maturità artistica emerge nella ricerca e nell’adozione di una palette di colori decisa: una scala di grigi-neri, un arancione alla “Miami”, un viola semitrasparente.
I contrasti, in particolare, assumono grande importanza: tonalità come il verde, il blu e il viola, quasi pallide, si contrappongono a un rosso acceso, al nero, come nel caso di “Spiriti in Festa”, riflettendo gli eventi raffigurati nel quadro stesso. L’uso di china e acrilico contribuiscono a conferire opacità ma anche luminosità.
In “Verde silenzioso”, si intravede un carillon musicale o i suoi ingranaggi interni; le
semitrasparenze, le varie sfumature.

In “Phantasmagoria”, emerge un elemento fluttuante, forse una conchiglia, forse un pensiero, forse un sogno. Un’entità indefinita, assimilabile a uno spirito errante o paradossalmente a un cespo di insalata. Nelle opere di Yvonne Andreini, le forme geometriche si addolciscono, gli opposti si fondono, e dinamiche che definiscono la nascita di un tutto unitario, l’unione degli estremi che generano un nuovo equilibrio perfettamente funzionante, prendono forma.

“Noi siamo fatti della stessa sostanza dei sogni, e nello spazio e nel tempo d’un sogno è raccolta la nostra breve vita”. (William Shakespeare, La tempesta, atto IV, scena I)

EN

PHANTASMAGORIA
Text by Valentina Galossi

In recent years, Yvonne Andreini has developed an artistic practice inspired by photographs of real-life situations, mainly convivial gatherings of people-actors coming together at a table. Capturing this moment, for the artist, means particularly visualizing the kinetic energy of those bodies moving in space and time. From the photographic shot, Andreini transitions to the figurative painting of the same scene but gradually acts on the canvas by deconstructing the scene itself, giving rise to refined abstract paintings. Andreini works the layering process on the canvas at a dramaturgical level: the painting can undergo significant transformations, changing rhythm, mark, colors, and space. In Andreini’s paintings, objects outline themselves as light shadows in motion; bodies vanish and transform into ghosts. This metamorphosis manifests, for example, in “Spiriti in Festa,” where Andreini celebrates the “Geist,” understood in the dual sense of spirit and soul, and proposes a toast to the specters that surround us!
The word “φάντασμα” (phantom) comes from ancient Greek, and “Phantasmagoria” in the 18th century was a form of theater that used a modified version of the magic lantern to project frightening images such as skeletons, demons, and ghosts onto walls, smoke, or semi-transparent screens; in Yvonne Andreini’s exhibited works, this theatrical form is inspirational and translates into the abstraction of figures on the canvas: the artist breaks the space-time boundaries and with her paintings generates a visible total energy.
The “Weltanschauung,” the worldview based on becoming, an endless flow of reality, a perpetual birth and death of things, guides and informs Andreini’s work. With broad, dense, and vibrant brushstrokes, the artist acts upon the canvas, transforming it layer by layer: subtracting, applying, shaking, and delicately bringing movement to life. In the artwork “Celebrations,” the material changes shape before our eyes, and waves of color lull the viewer, slowly initiating a dance.
Yvonne Andreini studied with Hanns Schimansky, known for drawing almost exclusively in black and white or with only one color at a time. For years, Andreini predominantly used the drawing technique, even in very large formats, where the mark and the line defined
her work. Later, she began a search to find a method that would allow her to integrate the two media, assigning them the same identical value: a language that was both line and space. It was a continuous struggle, as the artist herself says, “not to let either one win.”
Andreini’s œuvre stand out for an aesthetic of beauty, but her art distinguishes itself through a deep process of transformation that also involves the spectator. Over time, the artist focuses on the concept of strength as inner movement, a prelude to external one. When observing Yvonne Andreini’s paintings, we are surprised by how those precise brushstrokes leave room for contemplation and a profound introspective dialogue with ourselves.
If we refer to Giacomo Balla’s futurism, it is crucial to interpret it from an internal perspective outward, following the same perspective as Andreini. The artist’s goal is not so much to represent external movement and dynamism but rather to explore the slower internal dynamics of movement and how these can reflect. Trying to separate them would be futile. We can say that in Andreini’s creations, nothing is immobile; the underground scene transforms into a dance, into a vibrant symphony. The sensation of vibration emanates when a body senses the sound, a flow that permeates through the bass and intertwines with the rhythm. The intent is to convey the idea that objects are not static.
In her more recent works, color takes on a prominent role: subdued
shades; fluorescent but muted. Artistic maturity emerges in the research and adoption of a but distinctly defined decisive color palette: a scale of gray-blacks, a “Miami” orange, a semi-transparent purple. Contrasts, in particular, take on great importance: shades like green, blue, and purple, almost pale, contrast with a vivid red, black, as in the case of “Spiriti in Festa,” reflecting the events depicted in the painting itself. The use of ink and acrylic contributes to giving opacity but also brightness. In “Verde silenzioso,” a musical carousel or its internal gears are glimpsed; semi-transparencies, various nuances. In “Phantasmagoria,” a floating element emerges, perhaps a shell, perhaps a thought, perhaps a dream. An indefinite entity, assimilable to a wandering spirit or paradoxically to a head of lettuce. In Yvonne Andreini’s œuvre, geometric shapes soften, opposites merge, and dynamics that define the birth of a unified whole, the union of extremes that generate a new perfectly functioning balance, take shape.

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”(William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Act IV, Scene 1)

Traces. Chapters of Variety 

Text by Valentina Galossi

Ameret’s work revolves around the human being as both an individual and as part of an ever-evolving system. Her mixed- media paintings and installations are the outcomes of her interactions with people over the years, culminating in an archive of shadow forms. Through street actions and encounters, Ameret collects unique shadows that serve as source material for her images and installations, prompting reflections on social processes and the individual’s position in society. She often announces street performances or can be found simply sitting on the street, unfurling a flag and inviting people to contribute their shadows to her.

In the second step of Ameret’s process, individuals are invited to choose the form they wish to contribute to her archive. Initially, people stand in a relaxed manner, devoid of tension in their bodies. However, as the conversation progresses, a sense of tension starts to emerge, and gradually, they assume various forms with their bodies. Ameret makes it clear that she has no intention of selling these shadows, as she believes it would bring bad luck. Instead, she kindly requests that people give their shadows to her as a gift. Infact, one should never sell their own shadow but rather offer it as a gift, for individuals without shadows lack a tangible existence.
This reminds us of “The extraordinary story” of Peter Schlemihl by Adalbert von Chamisso. In that tale, Peter was a man who, driven by monetary desires, foolishly bartered his shadow to the devil.

Regrettably, he soon realized the profound consequences of his actions as he found himself utterly alienated from society, deprived of materiality.
“Decent people are careful to carry their shadows with them when they walk in the sun.” – The extraordinary story of Peter Schlemihl
This collaborative interaction allows for a personal and interactive experience, as individuals actively shape and express themselves through their chosen form in the shadow. The “donated” shadow figures form a growing digital archive, providing Ameret with a repertoire of forms. These human characters, arranged as human chains, stencils, cutouts, or individual figures, find their place in her paintings and objects, creating relationships between them. Ameret’s paintings invite us to reflect upon the concept of boundaries. The search for an individual’s place in the world, in society, within their own individuality, and in relation to others is determined by these boundaries. Our physical bodies, for example, establish our physical edges or boundaries. In one of Ameret’s paintings-flag titled “Summermeeting,” she aims to capture the reflection of three shadows, one on top of the other. This exploration of boundaries led me to an interesting conversation with Ameret, and I would like to share a story she told me.

Some time ago, Ameret conducted a performance involving children who painted only their feet to create shadows, a concept where shadows typically do not have feet. During this event, Ameret engaged in extensive conversations with the children, emphasizing the significance of respecting personal boundaries.
The concept of the “Standpunkt” or point of view is multifaceted and carries various meanings either in German and in english. Firstly, it pertains to different positions, referring to where one stays or positions oneself. Secondly, it encompasses how one stays or conducts themselves in a particular situation. Thus, the term encompasses at least these three distinct meanings. (…) 

Divenire

Text by Valentina Galossi

The ouvre of Marta Colombo (b. Merate, Italy, 1984) explores drawing as an emancipated technique.

It serves as the experimental and autonomous ground of Colombo’s own artistic practice. She releases the expressive potential of drawing – the classic medium, by freeing the signs and the lines. They are now unleashed to fluctuate and inhabit new spaces, no longer belonging exclusively to the paper surfaces where they once existed.

Before moving to Germany (2010), Colombo was educated at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. A key point in her artistic career took place in Milan, where she honed her skills through anatomical drawing techniques: the body was analyzed and depicted by the artist with the same manner as an architectural element. She had since adopted this technique as both a working method and a critical strategy, after mastering it.

It is through drawing that Colombo delves into the three-dimensional aspects of space. The artist builds a geometric structure, then finds the anatomical form: she analyzes the depth of the body and the balance of the pelvis; studies the volume of the body and defines its proportions. It can be said that this modus operandi is rooted in the artist’s unconsciousness, and only over time it does acquire its full meaning. An example of this is one of her recent works, “Neuland” (2020) – a series of drawings where an explicit break with traditional visual codes occurs. From which, a meticulous infusion of sense and meaning is then revealed.

Since childhood, the German-Italian artist had been an insider behind the scenes of Teatro alla Scala, one of the most important theaters in the world, where her mother worked as a set designer. The immersive synergy of set design and stage space captured Colombo’s curiosity of a world filled with props, fabrics, costumes and people. Years later, she returned to La Scala to complete her training in Scenic Design. The very concept of stage presence has deeply influenced Colombo’s current practice: her works are primarily concerned with experimental scenography in terms of volume, objects and perspectives, amongst which the central themes of experimental design are being treated as sculptural processes and participatory strategies.

Colombo’s artistic research is based on a catalog of questions. They are fluid issues enriched by the reflections of the present time, where the focus revolves around a set of core topics throughout her art, such as drawing, composition, assemblage and aesthetics of space. The artist transposes the work on paper into three-dimensional space, which further becomes the ideal stage for participatory strategies engagement. The combination between different materials and perspectives functions as a driving force in elevating the viewer’s knowledge of the surrounding space, identifying through its qualities and potential. Art by Marta Colombo takes up the challenge of generating new participatory strategies and proposes options that could open up dialogues with various integration forms. She continues to experiment with diverse mediums in multiple disciplines. More than anything else, Colombo’s work stands out for its elegance, gentleness and inclusiveness. Her sophisticated drawings, along with her site-specific works, convey to the viewer a sense of security, while still leaving room for exploration through the experimentation.

Exhibition Essay 

by Valentina Galossi

“You have the possibility to give light a dimension in time”.

Jonas Mekas

Imagine if a bunker was a place of endless possibilities, a place where you could spend some time, maybe alone, thinking about yourself. What in your life shaped you to become the human being, the unique individual that you are now? How many steps did you take, how many moments did you spend on your own thinking and re-thinking, constantly constructing your personality and your critical and personal vision in an attempt to approach reality?

The process started when you were a child, you could remember some important memories of your past: the first time you cried because your red balloon flew away from you and you didn’t know where it was supposed to go, just gone. Where? Or the first time you had an argument with your father because he didn’t allow you to express your personal point of view: you were too young even to have one!

Which authors enriched the perspective of your life when you were teenager (Salinger, Calvino, Pasolini, Kafka, Moravia), what books do you have in your library? Rossellini, Visconti, De Sica, Godard, Truffaut, Tarkovskij, Fassbinder, Wenders, Almodovar, Capra, Allen, Moretti: have they influenced your inner formation? Every single step you made, every single person you met, every single book you read, movie you watched, place you visited, have brought you directly to this point. It’s time to turn on the light inside the Fichte-Bunker and start to walk with me during this journey. You will probably need some time to adjust to your surroundings, but don’t be afraid. I’ll be your personal guide. But first I have to tell you something: it’s a really cold and damp space, so please dear visitor be patient and courageous, put on a woollen jacket and breathe some fresh air, before entering.

“Every day is a journey and the journey in itself is home”. Matsuo Basho

#1. 

Entrance

The corridors draw a semi-circular line: 10 rooms/each cells 2×3 metres all around. If you close your eyes for just one second at the entrance, you can hear different and indistinct sounds surrounding you: waves, voices, songs, blurring into one. An image of ruins, a video of a fossil forest, a self portrait, an installation of archival sheets from a found photo album, flyers on a plinth, glass, a lightbox: these materials whisper to you slowly, softly and gently something that you already know, everything around us has a history and the traces of the past are eradicated in our present, sometimes in the forms of old ruins. It is the earth itself that tells us who we are and how much things change.

Take your time.

Don’t get lost.

Things change.

You can come and go from one cell to the other, unaware of the time, and meet at the end, Stephanie Comilang’s The Children of the King. Why don’t you close your eyes just once more and start to move back along the corridor: a wave of sound permeates the space all around and gives you a pleasant feeling of wellbeing, calmness and awareness.

Now you start to feel more confident with the space. It would probably be nice to meet some others at the end of the corridor, share with them your feelings and maybe take part in the game that is waiting for you there: Ivan Bošković’s Erde für die Zukunft. Please, play this game.

#2.

Contemporary scenario

In our present time, human beings can communicate from the opposite side of the world using Skype, social networking, or similar devices; people can also take low-cost flights and travel almost anywhere in a very short time. Each day we are brought closer to the anticipated use of technological devices as a “natural extension of ourselves” as Marshall McLuhan, prophesied in 1964, long before the current internet era.

People, young people, middle aged people, the elderly, re-think their everyday to navigate their current lives. We live in a precarious-era. The new-capitalism, in itself is the new scenario. The young generation living in these changing-times attempt to realize new goals, new dreams and new possibilites for their future. 

Our world is becoming a world of congestion, of new economic realities, and even new ways of establishing relationships between people; all of this generates a new way of thinking about life and about the future. The dangers that arise from our contemporary era, can also be related to isolation and alienation, economic and political crisis and perhaps the eventual collapse of the capitalistic system. Sometimes people even need a kind of fake “temple” or place of meditation, pretending to face problems by attending yoga class or talking once a week with a psychotherapist, or continuing to spend most of their time just living without introspection.

There are endless possibilities for our futures. I believe in the idea of the world as a vital place full of difference and unpredictable future scenarios.

#3.

Men have already been on the moon.

What kind of individual have you become?

I’m sorry to confess to you that I don’t have an answer, but I really hope that you continue with your own unique beliefs, dreams and values. Thanks for being with me until now. 

You and I can easily communicate, exchanging our feelings and experiences, failures and successes. 

Everything has happened inside this gasometer (which has quite a strange and difficult history to bear) and following this journey we have returned back home.

When sound becomes space: Dīpaka’s room. Kasper Vang

Text by Valentina Galossi

Room of Dīpaka, an installation by Danish artist Kasper Vang, was located on the second floor in the center of the Fichte-Bunker: the place of transcendence. The viewers could reach the room by ascending a spiral staircase that led them to experience a contemporary version of the ancient Indian raga: Dīpaka, known as the “melody of light.” 

This raga is acknowledge for its mystical history and dangerous effects, as it was said to cause such excitement when sung, that it would set lamps alight, and burn the body of the performer ashes.

Vang composed the sound in a very simple and minimal structure using eight sine tones of only one frequency for each tone. This eight tones are derived from the alleged scale of the mysterious Raga Dīpaka. This is an unusual way to write a musical composition and the perfect way to build an atmosphere. Rather than becoming a pure listening room, by linking the composition to the flickering, synchronized lights, the artwork becomes a space where the spectators feel at ease to think and imagine, feeling free to let their minds drift from the physical place. The artist works with atmosphere and sense of space, capturing and unfolding the hidden sounds of objects and rooms. (note 1)

In Room of Dīpaka, Vang shows the powerful ability to turn and revive the “melody of light.” using the formal and technical elements of the Indian musical tradition, but converting the tones of the original raga into a self-running, changing visual light composition, capturing the essential transcendental and magical qualities of the ancient raga form. 

Vang’s artwork – made with eight different sine frequencies and twenty-four light bulbs -produces a very contemplative atmosphere: the installation is constantly changes to become a space that seems to invite the visitor to be part of and to share a specific space, a space made from sound.

“I don’t want to do something too obvious. Slowly people start to realize that the installation changes. Sound can alter the normal way to listen.

If you spend some time with the work you realize that there is something around you,

not just in front of you. (…) “I’m interested in creating an atmosphere that gives you space to think and makes you feel conscious of being in that space.”

The sound and the light and all that surrounds act as stimuli to activate one’s inner dialogue and suggest a dreamy, rarefied and contemplative atmosphere that might transport the mind of the viewer into a poetics reminiscent of Andrei Tarkovsky’s. 

Paraphrasing the words of the great Russian director, we might say, who can call himself a poet in contemporary art? An artist who creates his own world and does not simply attempt to reproduce the reality that surrounds him inviting the viewer in taking part of it.

2 http://www.idolonstudio.com/weekendsound/

Spielraum.

Text by Valentina Galossi

“Real pain for your sham friends, 

champagne for your friends.”

Francis Bacon

EN

For his Berlin debut, Daniele Sigalot (aka Blue and Joy) has chosen the splendid new venue of Bernheimer Contemporary, located near Museum Island in the heart of Berlin. 

The title of the exhibition -SPIELRAUM – invites visitors to let go of inhibitions, labels, and formal detachment and be captivated by the kaleidoscope of colors, shapes, materials, and combinations of techniques that characterize the neo-pop universe of this “illusionist” and irreverent artist.

Sigalot’s work finds its roots in the Pop Art of the 1960s, but also aspects of everyday life, mass media, popular and mass culture, Street Art, and the world of soccer, comics, and advertising. Her artistic language is appropriate for a generation that embraces postmodern aesthetics and thus speaks to a cultural phenomenon: she reappropriates clichés by bringing what traditionally belongs to other cultural spheres into a space dedicated to art. There is no denying the Duchampian imprint of this gesture that, in our time, produces a short circuit of energy, activating an immediate bond of empathy with the viewer.

Welcome to Blue and Joy’s SPIELRAUM, a four-room exhibition where you will experience a temporary suspension of reality. You will find yourself immersed in an atmosphere of ecstasy and lightness dedicated to playing, illusion, and irony. Along the lines of Alighiero Boetti’s Planes, paper airplanes are arranged in a dense but graceful fleet that takes the viewer by surprise, hinting at other possible scenarios; it is an archetypal image, an evocative symbol that ignites the imagination. This immersive installation is a riot of color, a unique and immersive visual experience; the aluminum bending technique captures the aesthetics of dynamism in a static form, demonstrating once again how the coexistence of contrasting and contradictory elements is one of the main features of Sigalot’s modus operandi. The artist has chosen the ductile material of aluminum to emphasize the fragility, the exposure to a certain vulnerability that is inherent in life in an ever-changing world. The plane thus becomes a symbol that pushes our gaze to the highest spheres of imagination.

The journey continues with the new series of aluminum sculptures entitled Ideas. These works have a strong autobiographical imprint. The world of advertising is seen here as one in which the human mind becomes comparable to a “thought-shooting” machine; there is a reference to creativity at all costs, which often does not produce the desired results. To portray the inconsistency of our times, Sigalot ridicules the acclaimed and narcissistic artist, as well as the art system in general, understood as a self-referential system, but also contemporary society, which seems incapable of going beyond a narrow and circular critical reflection. His irony is also directed against the corruption and populism of Italian politicians and the very idea of destiny, to which he even addresses an open letter: Dear Destiny.

A chronometer in a plexiglass case counts the seconds in thousands of years. This work of art will last a thousand years-here we are faced with the artist’s urgency to generate a work of art that will survive time. If only we could be here in a thousand years to check if the stopwatch still works!

The journey concludes with La Pizzeria: the world and friends that revolve around Sigalot’s “factory” in Berlin. The book also offers an ironic view of corruption, nepotism, and intimidation. Among the various posters, photographs, and videos, one video was shot at MoMA in New York and bears the title, “The Meaning of Art – Marina Abramovic, an Empty Gallery, Us and What It Means to Be an Artist Today.” A nearly two-minute celebration of carefree living, it uses laughter as a form of collective catharsis.

IT

Blue and Joy – Daniele Sigalot, per il suo debutto berlinese, ha scelto la straordinaria nuova sede della Bernheimer Contemporary a pochi passi dal Museumsinsel, il cuore di Berlino.

Il titolo della mostra, SPIELRAUM è un invito a lasciare fuori inibizioni, etichette e distacco formale per farsi catturare dalla frenesia di colori, forme, materiali e mix di tecniche che contraddistinguono l’universo neo-pop dell’artista “illusionista” e irriverente, Daniele Sigalot. L’arte di Sigalot, affonda le sue radici nell’immaginario della Pop Art degli anni Sessanta, negli elementi del quotidiano, ne i mass media, nella cultura popolare e di massa, nella Street Art, nel mondo del calcio, quello del fumetto e della pubblicità. 

Un linguaggio modellato su una generazione, che abbraccia un’estetica postmoderna fino a diventare fenomeno culturale: sdoganare i cliché portando nello spazio deputato all’arte quegli elementi che appartengono ad una cultura altra. Certamente un gesto di duchampiana memoria che nella nostra contemporaneità, produce un cortocircuito

di energia attivando immediatamente un rapporto di empatia con lo spettatore.

Benvenuti nella SPIELRAUM di Blue and Joy, un percorso espositivo che consta di quattro stanze nelle quali poter godere di un momento di apparente sospensione dal reale, immersi in un’atmosfera di estasi e leggerezza dedicata al gioco, all’illusione, all’ironia.

Sulla scia degli “Aerei” di Alighiero Boetti gli aerei di carta, compongono una flotta numerosa e leggiadra, che coglie lo spettatore quasi di sorpresa, indirizzandolo verso altri e possibili scenari; un’immagine archetipica, un simbolo che spinge all’immaginazione e alla visione. 

L’installazione immersiva è un tripudio di colori, un’esperienza visiva unica e

significativa, coinvolgente e gratificante; la tecnica di piegatura dell’alluminio, cattura l’estetica del dinamismo in una forma statica ricordando come la coesistenza di elementi opposti e contraddittori sia caratteristica predominante del modus operandi (pratica artistica) dei Blue and Joy. Affidandosi ad un materiale malleabile come l’alluminio, l’artista vuole sottolineare la fragilità, l’esposizione e una certa vulnerabilità insita nel vivere in un mondo in continua trasformazione. Ecco, quindi che l’aereo diventa un simbolo che spinge lo sguardo verso le alte sfere dell’immaginazione.

Il percorso prosegue poi con una nuova produzione, la serie di sculture, sempre in alluminio, dal titolo: Ideas.

In queste opere, c’è un forte richiamo autobiografico. Il mondo della pubblicità, è visto qui come un mondo nel quale la mente umana, viene equiparate ad una macchina “sputa idee”; c’è quindi un riferimento alla creatività a tutti i costi, che non sempre produce i risultati auspicati. Per rappresentare la fragilità del nostro tempo, Sigalot, ironizza sornione con l’immagine dell’artista blasonato, modello vincente e narciso; con il sistema dell’arte in quanto sistema autoreferenziale, con la società contemporanea che non sembra favorire il fluire di un pensiero critico chiuso e circolare; con quella

classe politica italiana corrotta e populista, con l’idea stessa di destino al quale indirizza una lettera aperta, Dear Destiny.

Il percorso si chiude ne “La Pizzeria”: il mondo, gli amici che girano intorno a la “factory” berlinese di Daniele Sigalot, Qui c’è spazio per ironizzare anche su corruzione e nepotismo, intimidazione e favoritismi. Tra i vari poster, fotografie e video, c’è ne è uno girato al MOMA di New York, dal titolo: The Meaning of Art – Marina Abramovic, an empty gallery,

us, and what does it mean to be an artist nowadays. Poco meno di due minuti, un inno al vivere con leggerezza utilizzando la risata come catarsi collettiva.

La retrospettiva in Tate Modern (2012) del Maverick italiano, ha profondamente inspirato il lavoro del duo La Fauci-Sigalot. Rimasto il Sigalot a pilotare i Blue and Joy, fa simpatia pensare ad un novello Maverick, Daniele e Sigalot.