Gli Impresari

Edoardo Aruta Marco Di Giuseppe Rosario Sorbello

portfolio 2016

GLI IMPRESARI

Gli Impresari (Edoardo Aruta, Marco Di Giuseppe, Rosario Sorbello) is an artisticcollective currently engaged in research focusing on the different forms of theatre stagecraft.

Starting with the role of stage machineries conceived as genuine wondrous devices, the group intends to focus on the political and aesthetic implications, which revolve around the usage of these ancient tools of propaganda, considering their analogic value as essential in order to inspire a deeper contemplation regarding the conceptof technique within contemporary society. Italian Stagecraft Tradition becomes the meeting point for political needs and artistic aspirations, social tensions and technological discoveries.

LA COMMEDIA DELLE MACCHINEPerformance, 45 min.2015

In collaboration with BluTeatro e Wàla Lab

La commedia delle macchine is a performing project that researches the sculptural possibilities of the theatre stage, starting from the production of an unfinished theatrical play, written by the artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini around 1638, and a series of sculptures inspired by the baroque stagecraft tradition.

Through its “play within a play” structure, the play describes the climate that characterized the environment of Italian courts in the 17th century. Stage machinery is the protagonistof the piece around which the spectacle takes place. This machinery serves a dual function: to metaphorically highlight the nature of a lifestyle made up by deceits and mystifications and, through technique, to produce astonishment in the audience. The level of astonishment produced by the show underscored the artist’s ability, and, at the same time, represented the instrument through which power could consolidate its prestige.

Starting with the political ambiguity of stage machinery, caught in between their status of artwork and that of propaganda tool, the performance emphasises the expressive possibilities of scenic devices towards a more specifically sculptural direction. All this doesn’t so much form an interpretation of Bernini’s play, but rather it shapes a new representation that looks at the text of the Neapolitan artist as the focal point of a continuous imbalance.

Gli Impresari, La commedia delle macchine, rehearse, MACRO Museum, Rome, 2015 © Daniele Alef Grillo

Gli Impresari, La commedia delle macchine, MACRO Museum, Rome, 2015 © Matteo Nardone

Gli Impresari, La commedia delle macchine, Museo MACRO, Roma, 2015. © Daniele Alef Grillo

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Gli Impresari, La commedia delle macchine, rehearse, MACRO Museum, Rome, 2015

Gli Impresari, La commedia delle macchine, rehearse, MACRO Museum, Rome, 2015

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Gli Impresari, La commedia delle macchine, MACRO Museum, Rome, 2015

Gli Impresari, La commedia delle macchine, MACRO Museum, Rome, 2015 © Daniele Alef Grillo 64

DAFNEStage design2015

Produced by Teatro La FeniceIn collaboration with the artist Giuseppe Abate.

The scenographic layout developed for the opera Dafne, at the Hall of the Scrutiny of the Doge’s Palace in Venice, is characterized by a distinct engineering aspect. The mechanisms that operate the devices, as well as their effects, became part of the show, triggering a double layer of uses. Actors, stage machinery and stage technicians collaborate in the context of the scene, allowing them to simultaneously represent the action of the various protagonists of the show.

Gli Impresari, Dafne, Apollo’s Raising Machine, Doge’s Palace, Venice, 2015 © Daniele Alef Grillo

Gli Impresari, Dafne, La Fenice Foundation Lab, Venice, 2015

Gli Impresari, Dafne, rehearse, Doge’s Palace, Venice, 2015 © Daniele Alef Grillo

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Gli Impresari, Dafne, rehearse, Doge’s Palace, Venice, 2015 © Daniele Alef Grillo

Gli Impresari, Dafne, The River Machine, Doge’s Palace, Venice, 2015 © Daniele Alef Grillo

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RIB RID ROIDPerformance, InstallationGenoa sail, rope, Climbing Carabiners and Quickdraws, pulley system, scaffolding pipe structure, wifi lighting system, ear plugs.2015

For Art Night 2015, Gli Impresari presented a performance that through the language of art, music and theater interprets the Twelfth Book of the Odyssey. The atmosphere of the mythological past is evoked through the staging of some elements of the Homeric chant: the University of Ca’ Foscari in Venice took on the features of the ship accompanying Odysseus in his journey, throughout the haunting siren song between the terrible pitfalls of Scylla and Charybdis.

Rib Rid Roìd was inspired by an interpretation of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimergiven to the Odyssey in their Dialectic of Enlightenment. The whole poem is seen by German philosophers as an allegory of the process of definition of the self, which characterizes modern enlightened consciousness, an attempt to get rid of the myth, to relegate it to the past in order to impose the rule of rationality and technology, the rule of the man over the nature. In particular, the pitch of the sirens is cited as the metaphor of bourgeois society: the sailors (workers) have to row with ears plugged while Ulysses (the employee) thanks to the work of his companions is the only one who can listen to the chant. However, this privilege does not allow him to fully enjoy the beauty before him: “chained” to his social role he can only contemplate the object of his desire, inaugurating the modern separation between the intellectual and manual labor. Acting in this way Ulysses, becomes a motionless spectator of a silent play, and “his impassioned cry, his request for release, has already died in applause.”

Through the distribution of hundreds of earplugs, the role of sailors is given to the public; thus urging them to use the same ploy that the companions of Ulyesses used to confront the danger of the Sirens. At the same time the earplugs represent the device through which they can defuse the experience of the performance of ArtNight itself, continuing the reflection of Adorno and Horkheimer, which interprets the Homeric poem as a metaphor of the class struggle: “while his companions, despite their closeness to things, cannot enjoy their work because it is performed under compulsion, in despair, with their senses forcibly stopped”. The dynamic between involvement and denial descends from the stage to the audience.

Gli Impresari, Rib Rid Roìd, Art Night 2015, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, 2015 © Daniele Alef Grillo

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Gli Impresari, Rib Rid Roìd, studio, 2015

Gli Impresari, Rib Rid Roìd, setting up, Art Night 2015, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, 2015 © Daniele Alef Grillo

Monty Pyton, The Meaning of Life (The Crimson Permanent Assurance), still frame, 1983

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Gli Impresari, Rib Rid Roìd, Art Night 2015, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, 2015 © Daniele Alef Grillo

Gli Impresari, Rib Rid Roìd, ear plugs , Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, 2015

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IL CANGIANTECostume, Wall Painting2015

In collaboration with Bonotto Foundation and Wàla Lab

Il Cangiante is a theatre costume that can be transformed in seven different ways. The work is inspired by the book Fluxyearbook 1 of George Maciunas and by its ability to host in the physical space of the book several artistic projects, while maintaining a particular ratio of sense given the change of scale and frame. The book is interpreted as a generator of possibilities. Just as Fluxyearbook 1 is not a container but rather a site-specific object, Il Cangiante is not a casing that covers the body of the actor, but rather a mechanism that generates/shapes the characters themselves.

At the “Fluxbooks, from the Sixties to the Future Exhibition” at Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation in Venice, a large Wall Painting accompanies the exposition of the costume. Mr. Fust and Mr. Sozzet, protagonists of the painting, define the steps necessary for the realization of Il Cangiante through an ambiguous conversation: a conceptual framework disguised as a paper pattern.

Gli Impresari, Il Cangiante (Wall Painting), Tito’s Palace, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice, 2015

Gli Impresari, Il Cangiante, graphic, Venice, 2015

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Gli Impresari, Il Cangiante, in La commedia delle macchine, still frame, MACRO Museum, Rome, 2015

Gli Impresari, Il Cangiante, in La commedia delle macchine, still frame, MACRO Museum, Rome, 2015

Gli Impresari, Il Cangiante, Tito’s Palace, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice, 2015

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ìIN SUA MOVENZA E FERMO InstallationBrass, iron, wood, stone, glass, Par CP 60 Lamp.2015

In sua movenza è fermo is the reconstruction of a scenic device used to simulate the movement and intensity of the sun. A structure made up of a lamp fixed to the edge of a periscopic arm reproduces the rise and setting of the sun through a machine action that varies the light and position intensity. The device is reproduced in the double meaning of both tool and autonomous formal object. It exalts the deceptive character of the machine from a merely theatrical level to the more sophisticated one of the design.

Gli Impresari, In sua movenza è fermo, in La commedia dell’arte contemporanea (scene II), Giorgio Cini Foundation, Venice, 2015

Gli Impresari, In sua movenza è fermo, in La commedia dell’arte contemporanea (scene II), Giorgio Cini Foundation, Venice, 2015© Mario Ciaramitaro

Gli Impresari, In sua movenza è fermo, scale model, 2014

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Gli Impresari, In sua movenza è fermo, in La commedia dell’arte contemporanea (scene II), Giorgio Cini Foundation, Venice, 2015

Gli Impresari, In sua movenza è fermo, in Dafne, Doge’s Palace, Venice, 2015

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PRATICA DI FABRICAR MACHINE E SCENE NE’MUSEIInstallationWood, iron, fabric, plastic.2015

The work was built using materials salvaged from the 15th Venice Biennale of Architecture. It reproduces a scenographic mechanism of the Baroque period used to portray the movement of the sea during theatrical plays. Originally made up of wooden rollers with a helicoidal surface balanced on lateral supports, the device utilised fabric laid down on the rollers, turned by cranks placed at the extremities: the colours of the fabric reproduced the surface of the sea, and the movement plausibly recreated the ripples of waves.

Gli Impresari, Pratica di fabricar scene e machine ne’musei, in La commedia dell’arte contemporanea (scene I), detail, St. Mark’s Square Gallery, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice, 2015

Gli Impresari, Pratica di fabricar scene e machine ne’musei, in La commedia dell’arte contemporanea (scene I), St. Mark’s Square Gallery, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice, 2015

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In the project carried out for Coefficiente H Artists Residence Program, the collective has introduced a model of the machine utilizing ceramic, rather than fabric, to create the rollers and the wings. Through the use of ceramic for the construction of the device, Gli Impresari have on the one side welcomed a distinctive material of the region where they have been called to work, while intensifying the artificial dimension of the device, complicating its idea of movement and its original functionality.

Contemporizing an ancient instrument of power and propaganda, revisiting forms and iconographies of the past tied to the control of public opinion, is not meant to be a mere acknowledgement or a self-appraising show of technical ability, but rather it invites us to question modern mechanisms of mechanization, power, and mass media communication through a very personal imagery that finds within tradition a possible key to access contemporaneity. Gli Impresari have in fact built an “indirect tool” urging towards a reflection on the current political and cultural contingency. By showing what used to be normally hidden and overturning the point of view, they have created a sort of emblem of the plural strategies of communication and spectacularization of reality. (Elena Magini)

Gli Impresari, Pratica di fabricar scene e machine ne’musei, glazed ceramic, Tenuta di Sticciano, Certaldo (FI), 2015

Gli Impresari, Pratica di fabricar scene e machine ne’musei, glazed ceramic, Tenuta di Sticciano, Certaldo (FI), 2015

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Gli Impresari, Come si puo’ in un attimo far annuvolare il cielo, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation’s Atelier, Venice, 2014

Arcades of St. Mark’s Square, Venice

ìCOME SI PUO IN UN ATTIMO FAR ANNUVOLARE IL CIELOInstallationFabric, rope2015

The Commedia dell’arte included an idea of presenting shows in which actors did not recite texts but rather improvised them following similar plot outlines. For the closing exhibition of the Artists’ Residence Program at the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Gli Impresari decided to work according to the same approach, replacing however the actor with sculpture, and introducing a theatre-set based on the similar idea of controlled improvisation typical of the Commedia dell’arte. The performance features the work of the artisans behind the scenes in the moment of study of two stage effects. Come si può in un attimo far annuvolare il cielo represents one of the two completed installations and consists of eight Venetian curtains, which were used as a protection from the weather by the merchants in Saint Mark’s Square.

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Gli Impresari, Come si puo’ in un attimo far annuvolare il cielo, in La commedia dell’arte contemporanea (scene I), St. Mark’s Square Gallery, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice, 2015

Gli Impresari, Come si puo’ in un attimo far annuvolare il cielo, in La commedia dell’arte contemporanea (scene I), St. Mark’s Square Gallery, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice, 2015

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IL VENTO COME SI FINGAInstallation, PerformanceWood, fabric2014

In collaboration with the sound artist Guido Modanese

The Wind Machine consists of a multiple faceted cylinder, united by two round structures with a lifted edge to keep the canvas in place, stopped by a side and ending with a sack in which an iron pole is introduced. The drum is kept up by two supporting structures linked by two box trusses. A crank handle will be installed to make it turn faster. The canvas, brushing against the head of the drum, produces the hiss of the wind.

Gli Impresari, ll vento come si finga, in La commedia dell’arte contemporanea (scene II), Cenacolo Palladiano, Giorgio Cini Foundation, Venice, 2015

Gli Impresari, Il vento come finga, detail , San Simonino Chapel, Trento, 2014

Gli Impresari, Il vento come finga, San Simonino Chapel, Trento, 2014 © Pierluigi Cattani Fagion

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MACHINA DEL TUONOInstallation, PerformanceWood, iron, steel, rope2014

In collaboration with How We Dwell collective

A device with architectural dimensions but an ephemeral spirit. The project includes the reconstruction of a 17th century lightning machine, along with a supporting wooden structure that allows the device to work without the presence of a theatre’s rigging loft. A resonating chamber that transforms the dry sound made by the collapse of the iron plates into thunder’s typical deep rumbling, constitutes the base of the structure. The effect therefore becomes the meeting point of collaboration, an essential element in the practice of both collectives.

Overturning the viewer’s visual perspective, the piece imposes itself in its space, revealing the mechanism hidden behind a spectacular artifice such as the recreation of a thunderbolt as it was conceived in ancient theatre. The viewer though, is still in an ambiguous position: the mechanism is revealed, but not the force that moves it.

Gli Impresari, Machina del tuono, Fondamenta 3.0, Feast of the Ascension, Venice, 2014 © Daniele Alef Grillo 6

Gli Impresari, Machina del tuono, Venice Art Night 2014, Cà Rezzonico, Museum of 18th century, Venice, 2014

Gli Impresari, Machina del tuono, Fondamenta 3.0, Feast of the Ascension, Venice, 2014 © Daniele Alef Grillo

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GLI IMPRESARI

www.impresari.tumblr.comgliimpresari@gmail.comstudio: Giudecca 796, Venezia

2015

La commedia delle macchineMACRO Museum, Rome.

DafneProduced by Teatro La Fenice, Doge’s Palace, Venice.

Rib Rid RoìdArt Night 2015, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice.

Text(iles)Curated by Giulia Meloni, Stefano Mudu, Claudio PiscopoIUAV University, Venice.

Fluxbooks. From the Sixties to the FutureCurated by Giorgio Maffei, Patrizio Peterlini, Stefano Coletto, Angela Vettese St. Mark’s Square Gallery, Tito’s Palace, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice.

La commedia dell’arte contemporaneaCenacolo Palladiano, Giorgio Cini Foundation, Venice.

Atelier 2014, Mostra di fine residenzaCurated by Rachele D’OsualdoSt. Mark’s Square Gallery, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice.

2014

Another Second Skin Curated by Marco Tagliafierro and Stefano ColettoSt. Mark’s Square Gallery, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice.

AcquisizioniCurated by Wunderkammer TrentoSan Simonino Chapel, San Salvadori Palace, Trento.

You are not WelcomeCurated by S.a.L.E DocksMagazzini del Sale, Venice.

La TempestaPerformance by Paolo Buggiani e Guido ModaneseCurated by Gli ImpresariGiudecca and Sacca Fisola Arts Festival, Venice.

Art Souvenir Al-BunduqiyyaCurated by Cecilia Tirelli La Fenice Gallery, Venice.

Venice Art Night 2014Cà Rezzonico, Museum of 18th century, Venice.

Fondamenta 3.0Curated by Gianluca D’incà Levis Fondamenta della Misericordia, Venice.

Art Residencies

2015 - Artists in Residence ProgramMACRO Museum, Rome.

2014 - Atelier ProgramBevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice.

Coefficiente HCaba Cultural Association, Tenuta di Sticciano, Florence.