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exhibition expanded: miroslaw balka

We are pleased to present the third and final viewing room linked to the exhibition L'orecchio di Dionisio. This insight is about the artist Miroslaw Balka and the use of sound in some of his works. Without any desire for completeness in the analysis of this broad aspect in the artist's research, we attempt to outline some hints and relationships between works with which the gallery has the pleasure to work with. Therefore, we want to create a possible narration between different moments, works and media whose fil rouge is the real and “physical” presence of sound or its evocation through drawing.

Siamo lieti di presentare la terza ed ultima viewing room legata alla mostra L'orecchio di Dionisio. Questo approfondimento è sull’artista Miroslaw Balka e l’utilizzo del suono in alcune delle sue opere. Senza nessuna volontà di completezza nell’analisi di questo ampio aspetto nel lavoro dell’artista, si cerca qui di delineare alcuni accenni e relazioni fra opere con cui la galleria ha il piacere di poter lavorare. Si desidera quindi creare una possibile narrazione fra momenti, opere e media differenti il cui fil rouge è la presenza reale e “fisica” del suono o la sua evocazione tramite il disegno.

The words “sereno è” from Drupi’s song are amplified by a sculpture made by the artist which contains a loudspeaker. The rhythmic rhythm of this song creates a wide space of sculpture. This work becomes a declaration, a contradiction, a wish, a prediction, a hermetic poem. All this, and numerous other meanings, are released in the rhythmic intonation of the two words from Drupi’s song, performed by the singer. He was very successful in Poland in the 70s and his presence in this work shows Balka’s predisposition to dig into the past to give new life to his personal memories. Collaboration with other art fields is not something new in Balka practice. In his research he intertwined his work with writers, musicians and poets capable of further stratifying the relationship with the past and memory.

Le parole “sereno è” della canzone di Drupi sono amplificate da una scultura realizzata dall’artista che contiene un altoparlante. Il ritmo cadenzato di questo canto crea uno spazio ampio della scultura. L’opera diventa una dichiarazione, una contraddizione, un augurio, una previsione, una poesia ermetica. Tutto questo, e numerosi altri significati, si sprigionano nel ritmo cadenzato delle due parole della canzone di Drupi, intonate da quest’ultimo. Il cantante riscosse molto successo in Polonia negli anni ʻ70 e la sua presenza in quest’opera manifesta la predisposizione di Balka di scavare nel passato per attribuire nuova vita alle sue memorie personali. La collaborazione con altri campi artistici non è qualcosa di nuovo nella pratica di Balka. Nella sua ricerca ha intrecciato il suo lavoro con scrittori, musicisti e poeti capaci di stratificare ulteriormente la relazione con il passato e la memoria.

miroslaw balka

61 x 59 x 31 / Sereno è

2006/2017

audio by Drupi, steel, loudspeaker, cable

61 × 59 × 31 cm

Photo: Andrea Rossetti

 

In 2017, Balka had his first Italian retrospective at HangarBicocca (Milan). As part of the public program for the exhibition, on May 23rd, Agata Zubel “sang” Miroslaw’s show in collaboration with the composer Cezary Duchnowski, with which she forms the duo for voice and electronics ElettroVoce. Ms. Zubel, a classical contemporary singer and avantgarde vocalist, conducted the performance in a dialogue with each piece of the show and the acoustic qualities of the space, starting from Yellow Nerve, Balka’s work installed in the Cubo, usually the last to be seen by the exhibition visitors at HangarBicocca. This event was curated by Pedro Rocha.

Nel 2017 Balka ha avuto la sua prima retrospettiva in Italia all’HangarBicocca (Milano). Nell’ambito del programma pubblico legato alla mostra, il 23 maggio Agata Zubel ha “cantato” la personale di Miroslaw in collaborazione con il compositore Cezary Duchnowski, con il quale forma il duo per voce ed elettronica ElettroVoce. La Zubel, cantante classica contemporanea e vocalista d’avanguardia, ha condotto la performance in un dialogo con ciascuna delle opere in mostra e le qualità acustiche dello spazio, a partire da Yellow Nerve, il lavoro di Balka installato nel Cubo, di solito l’ultimo ad essere visto dai visitatori della mostra all’HangarBicocca. Questo evento è stato curato da Pedro Rocha.

miroslaw balka

AGATA ZUBEL sings “CROSSOVER/S” by Miroslaw Balka

Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 2017

Courtesy Pirelli HangarBicocca

miroslaw balka

71 x 65 x 21

2017

terrazzo, steel, salt rock, plastic

71 × 65 × 21 cm

Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri

miroslaw balka

71 x 65 x 21

2017 (detail)

Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri

Since 1990, salt has often been used in Balka’ sculptures for its symbolic reference, as an extremely attractive material that is also capable of producing pain when it touches an open wound. In this specific work the artist deals with two recurrent themes of his research: play and sound. The ping pong ball, if dropped, will turn this apparently static work into a kinetic one, which is able to reconnect our thoughts to personal memories.

Dal 1990, il sale è stato spesso utilizzato nelle sculture di Balka per i suoi riferimenti simbolico, come materiale estremamente attraente, ma che è anche in grado di produrre dolore quando tocca una ferita aperta. In questo lavoro specifico l’artista affronta due temi ricorrenti della sua ricerca: l’azione e il suono. La pallina da ping pong, se lasciata cadere, trasforma questa scultura, apparentemente statica, in una cinetica in grado di condurre i nostri pensieri verso memorie personali.

 

“At the beginning of this work I asked people in Poland which was the most popular lullaby of their childhood. It turned out to be aaa kotki dwa szarobure obydwa/Nic nie beda robily tylko dziecko bawily (AAA: two little grey cats are taking care of you). I selected this lullaby when I happened to be working in Rijeka in Croatia. I saw the Fire brigate with their truck. They were revving the exhaust pipes madly. I asked the driver to push the pedal following the rhythm of the lullaby. I told him how it should be done. The exhaust pipe was huge; it protruded so much that is was placed outside the truck, like a chimney. The driver played the tune with his pedal while I filmed the smoke rising into the sky of Croatia, a country in which the wounds from the Balkans war are still present. […] I wanted the sound to be very close to the image. […] The trashcans, which are cylindrical pieces, represent the idea of waiting for something we don’t like. They contain what we throw away, maybe mistakes too.”
– Miroslaw Balka

miroslaw balka

AAA/Rauchsignales + 186 x 138 x 2 + 26 x 25 x 45

2007

Video, steel, mdf

DVD 2'22" loop

Photo: Antonio Maniscalco

“[…] Thinking about Croatia, the country in the former Yugoslavia where the films he watched as a child about Winnetou, an Indian chief, were made, Balka remembered smoke’s potential for communication, a skill employed by the apaches and the other tribes in Winnetou.”
– Juan Vicente Aliaga

The artist thus makes us enable to combine two seemingly contradictory feelings: childhood memories and a dark foreboding.

L’artista ci consente quindi di combinare due sentimenti apparentemente contraddittori: ricordi dell’infanzia e un oscuro presagio.

“[…] the drawings represent what I am thinking, not what I am doing”.
“[…] I disegni rappresentano quello a cui sto pensando, non quello che faccio”.
— Miroslaw Balka

miroslaw balka

Ian Curtis

2007

Ink on paper

20,8 × 14,7 cm; 41 × 39,5 × 4 cm framed

Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri

miroslaw balka

Listen to me please

2007

Ink on paper

20,8 × 14,7 cm; 41 × 39,5 × 4 cm framed

Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri

“Balka […] tries to recover time in his drawings by making the invisible visible.”
“Balka […] tenta di recuperare il tempo nei suoi disegni rendendo visibile l’invisibile.”
– Allegra Pesenti

 

L’orecchio di Dionisio, our exhibition of sound works by Miroslaw Balka, Simone Forti, and Marcello Maloberti is on view at the gallery through September 18, 2020. We look forward to welcoming you, please contact galleria@raffaellacortese.com to make an appointment.

L’orecchio di Dionisio, il progetto espositivo con opere sonore di Miroslaw Balka, Simone Forti e Marcello Maloberti è in corso in galleria fino al 18 settembre 2020. Vi aspettiamo e vi invitiamo a scrivere a galleria@raffaellacortese.com per prendere appuntamento.

 

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