Allora & Calzadilla, The Great Silence (2014)
Around Coexistence is an artist’s film programme that explores the complex dynamics involved in the coexistence of humans and the animal kingdom. Using various modes of representation—many of them humorous or surreal—the selected works delve into the allegorical and symbolic value of animals in contemporary culture and the risks and consequences of the radical changes man has made to the natural environment. Designed to lead audiences to reflect on the similarities between human and animal behavior, as well as the need to raise environmental awareness, the programme was curated by Leonardo Bigazzi and organized in partnership with Lo schermo dell’arte.
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[tab title=”PROGRAMME”][accordion open=”1″][accordion-item title=”September 22 – October 25, 2020″]
[mini-icon icon=”map-marker”]Gucci Garden Cinema da Camera
[mini-icon icon=”time clock”] from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm
The Great Silence
by Allora & Calzadilla
2014, 16’32”
Original Text by Ted Chiang in collaboration with Allora & Calzadilla
The Great Silence centers on the world’s largest radio telescope, located in Esperanza, Puerto Rico, home to the last remaining population of a critically endangered species of parrots, Amazona vittata. Allora & Calzadilla collaborated with science fiction author Ted Chiang who wrote a subtitled script in the spirit of a fable that ponders the irreducible gaps between living, nonliving, human, animal, technological, and cosmic actors.
Jennifer Allora (b. 1974, Philadelphia) and Guillermo Calzadilla (b. 1971, Havana) live and work in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They have been collaborating since 1995 working across sculpture, photography, performance, sound and video. Solo exhibitions have taken place at Serpentine Gallery, London; Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Haus derKunst, Munich; MoMA – Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Castello de Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia; MAXXI, Rome; Fundacio Antoni Tapies, Barcelona; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Renaissance Society, Chicago; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain; and many others. Allora & Calzadilla represented the United States at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. In 2015, they made the site-specific installation Puerto Rican Light (Cueva Vientos), a Dia Art Foundation commission on the southern coast of Puerto Rico.
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[accordion open=”1″][accordion-item title=”October 26 – September 22, 2020″]
[mini-icon icon=”map-marker”]Gucci Garden Cinema da Camera
[mini-icon icon=”time clock”] from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm
New Acid
by Basim Magdy
2019, 14’18”
Super 16mm and computer generated text messages transferred to Full HD.
Commissioned by La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, France. Courtesy the artist and König Galerie, Berlin.
In New Acid, a group of animals exchange text messages filled with GIFs and emojis. Their surreal dialogue is marked by irony and sarcasm that hint at conflict and rivalry among the species. This curious mix of meme culture and analogue film structure gradually reveals typical human behavior and the paradoxes inherent in a form of communication to which we have all become tragically accustomed.
Basim Magdy (born: 1977, Assiut, Egypt) lives and works between Basel and Cairo. His work has been featured in recent solo exhibitions at M HKA Museum of contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium; MAAT Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon; La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, France; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; MAXXI National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome; Jeu de Paume, Paris; CAPC Museum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux among others. Magdy’s work was included in The New museum Triennial, New York; La Biennale de Montreal, Montreal; Seoul Mediacity Biennial; 13th Istanbul Biennial; Sharjah Biennial 11; La Triennale: Intense Proximity, Palais de Tokyo, Paris. His films have been screened at Tate Modern, London; Locarno Film Festival, Locarno, Switzerland; New York Film Festival, New York; International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, among others. Magdy was shortlisted for the Future Generation Art Prize, Kiev (2012) and was awarded the Abraaj Art Prize, Dubai (2014); New:Vision Award, CPH:DOX Film Festival, Copenhagen (2014); and the Experimental Award, Curtas Vila do Conde–International Film Festival, Portugal (2015). He was selected as Deutsche Bank’s Artist of the Year (2016).
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[accordion open=”1″][accordion-item title=”November 23 – December 20, 2020″]
[mini-icon icon=”map-marker”]Gucci Garden Cinema da Camera
[mini-icon icon=”time clock”] from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm
Mood Keep
by Alice dos Reis
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[accordion open=”1″][accordion-item title=”December 21, 2020 – January 17, 2021″]
[mini-icon icon=”map-marker”]Gucci Garden Cinema da Camera
[mini-icon icon=”time clock”] from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm
Betweenness
by Oliver Laric
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[tab title=”INFORMATION”]
Around Coexistence
curated by Leonardo Bigazzi
September 22, 2020 – January 17, 2021
Gucci Garden
Piazza della Signoria
daily from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm
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