Agenzia Stampa Aspapress

Autorizzazione Tribunale di Forlì 6/91 del 8 marzo 1991 - Anno XXXII - Registro Nazionale della Stampa 02659 - Registro Operatori Comunicazioni n. 1187 - Direttore Editoriale e responsabile Enzo Fasoli - Casella postale 19152 - 00173 Roma Cinecittà est - Responsabile dati: Carlo Carbone - Capo redattore Cristiano Rocchi. Associazione Periodici Associati: Presidente Enzo Fasoli - Responsabile settore: Angelo Misseri - Redazione: Vincenzo Giannone, Daniela Zappavigna.

Cerca nel blog

Pagine

31 marzo 2018

ENGLISH LANGUAGE BREAKING NEWS | APOLIDE di Oppy De Bernardo: CITY OF LOCARNO 6500 plastic lifebuoys of every shape and colour are completely

 City of Locarno
Piazza Grande
March 31 – April 15, 2018
opening March 31, 6.00 p.m.
Oppy De Bernardo, Apolide,2018 / installation view, Piazza Grande in Locarno / ph. Edoardo Oppliger
Locarno, March 31, 2018 – 6500 plastic lifebuoys of every shape and colour are completely
covering the 3500 m² of Piazza Grande in Locarno. This imposing and ambitious installation called
Apolide designed by the Ticino-born artist Oppy De Bernardo (Locarno, 1970) under the patronage
of the city of Locarno will be revealed on the night of the March 30-31 with the help of more than
120 people and 18 km of rope.
Apolide will be open to the public from March 31 to April 15 and locals, kids, schoolchildren and
the general public are all invited to come and take as many lifebuoys as they want from Piazza
Grande from 11th April onwards.
Oppy De Barnardo - an artist who has always been interested in studying communication processes
and the perceptual boundaries of ordinary reality - is making a bold and very distinctive attempt to
showcase in an abstract and theatrical way what is perhaps one of the biggest emergencies of our
times: global migration. This empathetic gesture is fun, even manages to create a kind of euphoria,
and certainly deserves credit for encouraging debate on statelessness from the unusual and
privileged viewpoint of art.
Statelessness can have many different connotations depending on the context in which it is set: from
the idea of being a "citizen of the world" in ancient Rome and Erasmus of Amsterdam's conscious
decision to be independent from the ruling forces to the condition in which many migrants now find
themselves in, "sans papiers" from nations that are not recognised by the States occupying the land
in which they live and who find themselves with no rights, including the fundamental right of having
their existence acknowledged. Often referred to rather dismissively using the euphemism displaced
people - which, as Hannah Arendt complained, simplifies and trivialises a highly complex situation -
it is obviously difficult not to get bogged down in elaborate and inconclusive philosophical analyses
when attempting to come up with some legal definition for the term "statelessness" that excludes the
alienating and destructive status of invisibility.
Oppy De Bernardo - without trying to solve such a complex issue to one single artistic gesture - is
showcasing this condition in a strikingly theatrical and intangible way. Piazza Grande in Lucerne, the
heart of the city with its majestic porticos designed in the Lombard style that used to be lapped by
the waters of Lake Maggiore, is being transformed into a gigantic "utopian" island where we can be
saved from ourselves, an island where human beings can be saved from other human beings, where
there are no more borders, ethnic groups, races, colours and distinctions. An island that does not
exist, surreal and happy.
The entire square is being covered by a rubbery surface, a colourful people-friendly expanse, a lively
setting for walking around and meeting people: a solidified sea that is soft and unreal, projecting us
prematurely into a cliched holiday atmosphere. A perfect world of consumer objects that are exciting
to look at and leave no room for the imagination, an event which will radically change how public
space is used for two weeks and will affect an entire community, whether they like it or not.
These are the assumptions, considerations and thoughts on which De Bernardo has developed this
urban-scale project for the whole of Lucerne city square: a theatrical and also playful gesture in
striking contrast with the feeling of alienation and disorientation associated with the lack of any
definite bearings or reference points.
Oppy De Bernardo (Locarno 1970). After studying Restoration and Painting at Como Academy, he
moved to Milan where he enrolled on Alberto Garutti's course at Brera Fine Arts Academy. In 2008
he was one of the artist chosen by the Antonio Ratti Foundation in Como to take a postgraduate
course in the Visual Arts and in the same year he also won the Epson FAR Prize at the 'Fabbrica
del Vapore' in Milan. In 2009 he was one of the artists involved in the R.o.R. Artist in Residence
Program in Sempas, Slovenia (SLO).