About
CHANNEL
ONE-RUN PERFORMANCE
TUE 01.09.11
6PM - 8.30PM
Where once Performance lived only in the fleeting, transitory time between an artist taking to the stage and the work's final bow, in 2011, performance has become incorporated in corporate notions of mass-production and staid syndication. To reclaim Performance's rightful, impermanent place atop the fugitive stage, La Scatola Gallery is pleased to present Channel.
Rather than providing their audience a television equipped with a programme-guide, for just one night, four artists refuse to condition their crowd with any description of what they will broadcast. In doing so, the performance strips away the comfort that accompanies knowing exactly what is to come. Armed only with their curiosity, Channel 's spectators will indulge in a privileged calamity.
Confronted by a raw, one-time-only showing, both passers-by and those invited will be taken back to Performance's unrepeatable roots. In signing a contract with La Scatola, the artists have legally agreed to never reproduce the night's performance. In doing so, the weight of the performance is shifted to the exclusive event, and value is given to the occasion rather than its impotent copies.
Read more...on our website www.lascatolagallery.com
An exhibition curated by Valentina Fois.
Words: Chris Piegza
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THE STORYTELLER
PRIVATE VIEW
TUE 06.09.11
6PM - 8.30PM
La Scatola Gallery is pleased to present The Storyteller, a culmination of seven months of Soheila Sokhanvariâs negotiation of timeless tales and modern obstacles.
Born in Iran, Sokhanvari's practice has evolved just as tumultuously as the country of her birth, which plays a primary role in her work. Whilst positioning herself adamantly within Iran's rich traditions, her work also asserts itself in the nation's current political discourse that is as taboo as it is inescapable.
In her refusal to distinguish the extraordinary from the everyday, Sokhanvari embraces the magic of reality. In a realm where the supernatural coexists with the pedestrian, she sets her contemporary stories in the script of a fluid history. Borrowing from the 10th Century collection One Thousand and One Nights as much as she takes from the serpentine plot of current events, Sokhanvari situates her work in the context of magical realism. As such, each piece relies on its internal elements to present an external work that supersedes the rigid constraints of a reality that often ignores its mystic potential.
In her use of metaphor as a means of conversing with the unspeakable, Sokhanvari gives voice to political topics otherwise suppressed by subjugation. Like Shahrzad, the legendary Persian Queen and narrator-heroine of the stories framed within One Thousand and One Nights, Sokhanvari uses allegory to both suspend the impending and provoke the impossible. Seamlessly weaving her stories into age- old allegories, and vice-versa, she presents a stilled horse as the metonymous representative of centuries of violent racings, and a rug hung heavy with the weight of corruption as the representative of docked, flying carpets.
Sokhanvari's titles, rather than strict directives of the work, act as invitations to investigate, compelling her audience to take as active a role as they wish in decoding each piece. As such, the viewer becomes a modern character amongst timeless narratives, with YouTube and Google assuming Shahrzad's role as storyteller.
Read more..on our website www.lascatolagallery.com
An exhibition curated by Valentina Fois.
Words: Chris Piegza
