My Wallpaper is Cracking

Press photos

 


March 16. ­ April 7. 2001

 

Guillaume Leblon (F) / Italo Zuffi (I)

Curator: Luca Cerizza

 

Leblon and Zuffi investigate the dark side of modernist, utopian architecture, the subtle anxieties linked to this architectural ideal of order and discipline. Both artists establish, through simple interventions, an emotional relation with interior spaces and the domestic environment, creating feelings of uneasiness and imperceptible tension in the viewer. Thanks to the site-specific works of the two artists, Sparwasser HQ becomes the set of a crime story, without any bloodshed.

French artist Guillaume Leblon (1971) presents the 16mm film Villa Cavroix,
(9 min., 2000). The villa, located in northern France, was built, according to the design of architect Robert Mallet-Stevens, in 1932, and abandoned in 1986. The film documents a sensual and slow walk through the ruins of the villa: only interior spaces are visible, no total view is provided. As with other works by Leblon, Villa Cavroix is a bittersweet tribute to concepts of elegance and order; its commentary lies between nostalgia and critical consciousness.

Pre (2001) is a slide projection by Italian artist Italo Zuffi (1969). Similar to the works of Leblon, Zuffi approaches architectural space in an emotional and abstract way, documenting a few important details (floors, doors, windows, etc.). In the projection, images of the space are mixed with monochrome images and lines of text. The text describes a request made by one fictional character to another: to walk around the edges of a swimming pool, to take confidence in the space. Through subtle vertigo and slight hallucination, Pre suggests a problematic relation to the site. Zuffi also presents two new pictures, documenting moments in the construction of a pavilion designed by Dan Graham: a group of workers gathers around a wooden structure - what is really going on here?

Luca Cerizza