Insito - Inherent Art Exhibition Part 2

Insito art exhibition, involving 5 artists, four British and one Italian, was organised in Schio (VI), Italy, from 22 Nov to 22 Dec. 2024, and was curated by Monica Pirani. My first post on this exhibition looked at the works of the 4 British artists.

This post focuses on the Italian artist (Marta Martino) and on the curator, Monica Pirani. (Below, details from an installation by Marta Martino - You can click on images for a bigger view)

Insito - In Situs - Inherent

Monica explained that 'Insito' comes from the Latin, 'In Situs', or 'rooted and anchored in the context'. She saw this exhibition as a journey which connects the works of different artists, starting from the concept of interconnection. For this, she closely followed their creative processes, visiting their studios and observing the development of their works.

She said, "Their shared approach led me to reflect on the existential core from which we draw and into which we pour our knowledge, understanding, and perceptions. I wanted it to stimulate reflections and dialogues in the persons visiting and experiencing this exhibition."

Marta Martino

Marta was the only Italian artist in this exhibition. She works with different media.

One of her works in this exhibition titled "They-Them" was an installation of 24 paintings, on which words from her poetry were projected. It symbolised the creation and destruction of inter-personal relationships and journeys through different identities and personalities. The words and phrases had their own rhythm, sometimes they were contrasting and contradictory. It was an installation to be looked at in silence, letting its meanings and significances seep into your mind (image below showing part of this installation).

Her second installation was in a room which turned red in the evening-darkness (however, I saw it in the morning light, so could not see the red effect). It was a complex installation with different components, including the videos of a performance held some months ago in the nearby town of Thiene, in which she was accompanied by 2 performers and sound artist.

During that performance, for about six hours, she had designed figures on some big canvases, immersed in a red light. A video of that performance was the centre-piece of this installation.

She likes to provoke a reaction in her public and thus in this video seemed to be looking straight at them, representing an eye observing you, a kind of ever-present social media eye.

There was another group of 24 figures painted in red, that could be interpreted as representing different identifies or different emotional states, of a person or of different persons.

There were also some ink designs along that wall, from her ebook, where she writes as well, similar to the work done by Anne Grabby.

She also works a lot on the concept of movement and walk, which she had represented here with her walking shoes. Walking alone or with someone or in a group, going up or down, in a kind of metaphor of life, represented by her shoes in an installation.

Monica Pirani Exhibition Curator

Monica has been curating art & culture projects and art exhibitions for about ten years. Her work often focuses on inter-connections between different cultures and countries. She works often with British artists because for many years she was collaborating with a British organisation, organising exhibitions and events in both Italy and UK. She has also worked with artists from Argentina, Japan and China and other countries.

For her, inter-connections also mean bringing together different artistic languages. She looks for new and innovative experiences, instead of repeating what has already been done. Thus, she does not puts up exhibitions paintings or sculptures, instead her art interest moves around different kinds of concept art and installations. She likes to work together with artists to create something in relation to the structures which will host the event, so that there is a dialogue between the two.

Before becoming an art curator, she worked in marketing, as a part of a business management unit for a company. Originally from Turin, Monica has lived for a period in UK and now lives in Thiene for the past thirty years.

In recent years, she has done some interesting work, such as a project called Transparency (in 2019 with Belinda Guerriero) in collaboration with a company from Thiene in 2019, and another, Anima Mundi in 2017, with artists from different countries, held in Villa Fabbri in Thiene.

Conclusions

For a long time, for me "art" meant paintings and sculptures. I was unable to appreciate installations, especially video and sound installations, as an art. I was dismissive of the whole idea of concept art.

The exhibition Insito brings together different ways of artistic expression, some of which were easier to appreciate for me, while for others, I could see glimpses of what the artist wants to express. For example, I found it easier to see Anne Grebby's idea of extending herself, creating a circle and writing in it as art, compared to Kara Lyons idea of reflecting the water movement on wet-clay as a temporary sculpture.

In the end, like everything else in life, art is about feelings and a connection with something deeper inside us and also around us.

*****

You can also check out the first part of this post about the works of 4 British artists (Emma Critchley, Anne Grebby, Kara Lyons & Maryanne Royale)