A FLUID HAZE: THOUGHT-FORMS FROM FERRARA RESIDENCY
GATE/PORTA, PORTA DEGLI ANGELI, FERRARA, ITALY
22 SEP - 14 OCT 2018
Ferrara Residency was an international month-long residency for emerging artists which took place in Ferrara, Italy. A Fluid Haze was an exhibition of the work developed over the residency by the participants: Ruth Angel Edwards, Emilia Beatriz, Henry Bradley, Joe Campbell, Callum Hill, Blue Maignien.
In 2018, we invited five artists of interdisciplinary visual and sonic practices who have explored various facets of Ferrara’s history through their own work, as well as through events and convivial activities. The presentation at Gate|Porta was an opportunity to share the artists’ investigations into sites and narratives of Ferrara, as well as their experiments within their respective fields of artistic practice.
Throughout the residency, we discussed various political, economic and emotional structures which support or limit artistic work in neoliberal societies today. Permeating the residency at large, conversations around work conditions, care and conviviality were explored through a series of events entitled Convivium. These sessions were moments in which the artists reflected on various alternative modalities of cohabitation, through the prism of the Etruscan heritage at the National Archaeological Museum in Ferrara, as well as together with Carola Peverati, a feminist activist who was part of the 1970s social movement Wages for Housework.
GATE/PORTA, PORTA DEGLI ANGELI, FERRARA, ITALY
22 SEP - 14 OCT 2018
Ferrara Residency was an international month-long residency for emerging artists which took place in Ferrara, Italy. A Fluid Haze was an exhibition of the work developed over the residency by the participants: Ruth Angel Edwards, Emilia Beatriz, Henry Bradley, Joe Campbell, Callum Hill, Blue Maignien.
In 2018, we invited five artists of interdisciplinary visual and sonic practices who have explored various facets of Ferrara’s history through their own work, as well as through events and convivial activities. The presentation at Gate|Porta was an opportunity to share the artists’ investigations into sites and narratives of Ferrara, as well as their experiments within their respective fields of artistic practice.
Throughout the residency, we discussed various political, economic and emotional structures which support or limit artistic work in neoliberal societies today. Permeating the residency at large, conversations around work conditions, care and conviviality were explored through a series of events entitled Convivium. These sessions were moments in which the artists reflected on various alternative modalities of cohabitation, through the prism of the Etruscan heritage at the National Archaeological Museum in Ferrara, as well as together with Carola Peverati, a feminist activist who was part of the 1970s social movement Wages for Housework.
A Fluid Haze refers to the ecological character of Ferrara, where narratives around the industrialisation of the environment and its aqueous geology have informed the work and dialogues around cycles of waste and renewal; the plastic heritage of the former factory Montedison; sound as a site for cohabitation and care; and countercultures. Visualizations of thoughts, emotions and experiences were inspired by elusive, yet tangible forms such as the fog, mosquitoes and toxic waste.
The title is also a gesture towards the methodology of the residency itself. A crossing over between self and other, we worked towards the opening up of our respective disciplines and roles as artists, curators and organisers through sessions of peer review and feedback throughout the month. A Fluid Haze refers to the process of making work itself, in which we sought to value the research process and collective work over the finalisation of art objects themselves.
Curated by: Angelica Bollettinari, Olivia Berkowicz, Lucie Kordacova, Valeria Bevilacqua.
Text: Olivia Berkowicz
Graphic design: Sara Ortolani
Photo credit: Camilla Caselli, Andrea Bighi, Joe Campbell, Davide Vancini
Ferrara Residency was funded by Ferrara Council and Emilia Romagna Region.
More about Ferrara Residency 2018: https://www.res-in-a.com/copy-of-ferrara-residency-2017
