Location: MAGMA and the “A. Modigliani” Gallery, Follonica
Dates: 5 July to 5 September 2015
Respectively curated by Studio Azzurro and Karin Gavassa
The installation by Studio Azzurro, Where are all these people going, consists of three automated glass doors welcoming viewers by opening wide in a friendly manner, as if not opposing their presence.
Hasan Elahi’s work addresses the subjects of migration, borders – both physical and cultural – the use of new technologies and their role in our daily lives.
There are two museums in Follonica, the A. Modigliani Gallery and the MAGMA (Museum of Cast Iron Art in Maremma). The first mainly hosts the work of local artists, while the second portrays the technological, artistic and human history of the Follonica’s iron and steel plant, which was started in the 19th century but remained active until the 1960s.
So as to create a link between these two locations, on this occasion the 20th century was abandoned to propose an intervention of extremely popular contemporary art capable of attracting attention. Since inside the MAGMA, in addition to the exhibition held on the first floor (where there are also the molds for cast iron production at the start of the 20th century) there are two multimedia stations addressing the subject of migrations, two presentations of video art in the gallery and linked to this theme have been proposed.
Studio Azzurro’s installation, Where are all these people going, consists of three automated glass doors welcoming viewers by opening wide in a friendly manner, as if not opposing their presence. However, on the other side of the glass screens, video-projected figures become agitated as they crash against the solid barriers of a different and seductive civilisation that does not envisage a distinction of privileges. The interactive installation refers to a complexity of human relationships and the area of the installation is transformed into an “anthropological place” in which opening and closing movements do not always correspond to what is expected.
Hasan Elahi’s work addresses the subjects of migration, borders – both physical and cultural – the use of new technologies and their role in our daily lives. These are works of art specifically characterised by a glocal perspective, which starts from a local element to then speak a global language. Presented by the most important international museums, such as the Centre Pompidou, the Venice Biennale, Site Santa Fè, and at conferences hosted by the TEDGlobal and the Tate Modern, Elahi’s work has come to Follonica with large site-specific installations, merging a research on the manipulation of surveillance images and the beautification of information. By providing every single detail of one’s daily routine it becomes almost impossible to recreate paths and trajectories, while essential data is lost amidst thousands of ordinary and undecipherable images.