“Delocation,” 2008, Mixed media on panel (soot and smoke), 130 x 117 cm, Courtesy of Roberto Casamonti Collection.
In 1970, choosing to occupy a space that served as storage at the Galleria di Modena, Claudio Parmiggiani discovered traces of accumulated dust on the walls from previous years. The artist decides to make a fire using tires and blankets. A light gray smoke settles on the objects, which the artist then removes. The shadow then becomes a plastic form, a pattern of dust that captures the oscillation of time from within. The representation also approaches the photographic method, which captures the image, inverts it, creates a negative before developing it. His “Delocazioni” – the name given to these works – are an empty space of physical perceptions, yet the spectator has the sensation of entering an inhabited place. The absence of previously exhibited objects makes the walls even clearer; there is nothing else to see but their sooty trace. Parmiggiani create then an on-site installation for this exhibition.
An artwork must be violent. It must be like a punch in the stomach. Silent yet tough, tough yet silent, like a fire under the ashes, dark, growling.
Claudio Parmigiani
