UTOPIA LIQUIDA – The exhibition Utopia Liquida, with selected photographs from the 1970s, gives insight into Plessi‘s early creative phase in which he already began to develop water as the main theme of his art. In numerous interventions, that at the time were cutting edge happenings and conceptual art, his fascination for the ancient element became a source of inspiration. It originated from the omnipresence of the water in his chosen home Venice. The photographs show document and reflect his artistic happenings; some of them were already shown at the Venice Biennale in 1978. These include Plessi cutting apart running water in a sink into a hundred equal parts with a pair of scissors (100 Pezzi D‘Acqua, Azione 1973), in Paris he tried to put a hole in the Seine River (Un Buco N‘ell Acqua, Azione 1973) and when he sawed the Stichter Lake by Neuenkirchen into equal halves (Segare il Lago Stichter in due parti uguali, Azione 1975). In these absurd actions water is treated less like a natural element and more like a full-fledged aspect design element for the implementation of his imaginative ideas.
MEMORIA DELL‘ACQUA – In the rooms across the way, the exhibition Memoria dell‘acqua presents the Under Water video installation that Fabrizio Plessi produced in 2016 for the pavilion of Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice. Video has been his central medium since the mid 70s. Over the past 40 years, Plessi has produced more than 120 video sculptures and expansive video installations with water, combining natural materials such as wood, earth, and iron with the latest technology to create tension in the combinations that are characteristic of his works.
The video installation Under Water is impressive with its minimalistic production. Large screens display glowing fragments of a splendid gold and black Byzantine floor mosaic that move in wavelike motion and are accompanied by a sound composition arranged by the British composer Michael Nyman. The mosaic is the symbol of the East and references the history of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi which was the central trading place between Western Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean in the Middle Ages. Under water, the mosaic fragments are constantly changing and shifting under the movements of the flowing natural element, which for Plessi is a symbol of temporality and a metaphor for memory. The past, time, and the awareness of history are poetically brought to light in a constantly changing world. The connections between the mosaic, water and music in a room, create a total composition and an extraordinary sensory experience that sends the viewer on journeys through space and time. The simple, geometric layout of the exhibition space underscores the clear language of the video installation, which in its reduced form is reminiscent of Minimal Art and Arte Povera. Düsseldorf, 3 February – 18 Marz 2017 FABRIZIO PLESSI – INTERNATIONAL PIONEER OF VIDEO ART IN DUSSELDORF Fabrizio Plessi, Segare il Lago Stichter, 1975 © Archivio Plessi

OPENING : 3 February, 6pm

mpefm GERMANY art press release

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