STRIP MAPS
Claudia Losi:
Sguardo ed esperienza –
Gaze and Experience
October 5 – December 4
UniCredit Bank Branch
in Piazza Cordusio, Milan
http://www.unicreditgroup.eu
STRIP MAPS
Claudia Losi: Sguardo ed esperienza – Gaze and Experience curated by Francesca Pagliuca – UniCredit & Art, arrives at the UniCredit Bank Branch in Piazza Cordusio, Milan, on Saturday, October 3, in conjunction with the “Invito a Palazzo” event held by the Italian Banking Association and the “Giornata del Contemporaneo” celebration of contemporary art.
Special opening runs from 10 am until 7 pm, with guided tours, conferences and performances (booking required).
On display from October 5 until December 4 in Spazio Milano, during regular UniCredit Bank branch hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, free admission.
A solo exhibition by Claudia Losi, beginning Saturday, October 3, 2009, ushers in the new exhibition season at Spazio Milano, a multifunctional space within the UniCredit Bank branch in Piazza Cordusio. The venue was created in 2007 and is dedicated to the promotion of art, culture and engagement with the local community.
For the first time in the history of the venue, an artist has been invited to create a site-specific project involving the entire branch, with the object of transforming the ways in which the facility is ordinarily experienced.
The phrase “strip maps” is intended to evoke the full spectrum of “descriptive” maps, recording data of radically different kinds – from the purely geographical (indicating concrete and tangible boundaries and routes) to more heterogeneous and contingent phenomena (places worth visiting, establishments serving specific purposes, etc.). The “concrete” pathways associated with the everyday activities of the branch are then overlaid with emotional trajectories. This common thread runs through much of the artist’s work, serving to draw us away from ordinary perceptions and to present unexpected elements of discontinuity.
In addition to a selection of works never before displayed in Milan, the artist will also premiere a video produced by UniCredit Group along with a number of works that have been incorporated into the Group’s collection in the past five years. Claudia Losi is closely linked to UniCredit & Art, which has purchased several of her most important works – including her entire Celacanti series, composed of large square sections of quilted fabric, embroidered by hand with the lightest of designs, as if to simulate a coverlet (created in 2006).
Simultaneously, the group Malerbe will execute a performance piece involving audience participation. Throughout the day on October 3, this project will completely transform our overall perceptions of the space. More than 3,000 colored Post-its will spring up, like blades of grass, throughout the site in an interactive tableau involving the branch’s visitors.
The exhibition will also feature a printed program (in Italian and English) with contributions from both the curator and the artist, published by Mousse Publishing.
The opening of STRIP MAPS: Claudia Losi, Gaze and Experience, on Saturday, October 3, 2009, will coincide with the eighth annual “Invito a Palazzo” event, promoted by the Italian Banking Association. The program will entail changes in the opening hours for the bank branches involved, including Palazzo Cordusio, home to the UniCredit Bank branch. It will also coincide with the annual “Giornata del Contemporaneo” initiative, which has received the support of UniCredit Group in each of the five years it has been held. This “day of contemporary art” involves the roughly 1,000 cultural institutions in the AMACI network of Italian museums of contemporary art.
From October 5 until December 4, Strip Maps.
October 3 – Program
In addition to the Malerbe performance, with audience participation throughout the day, a series of guided tours, meetings and discussions will be held.
11 am – Panel Discussion on the State of Contemporary Art
A discussion chaired by Catterina Seia (head of the UniCredit & Art Project) with Monica Poggio (head of the Corporate Culture Department) and Lisa Parola (curator a.titolo ), as well as the artist and curator of the exhibition.
3 pm – Panel Discussion on the State of Contemporary Art
A discussion chaired by Catterina Seia with Jacqueline Ceresoli (art critic), Gabi Scardi (art critic and curator), as well as the artist and curator of the exhibition.
Guided tours must be booked in advance and will be held at 10 am, 10:30 am, 12 pm, 12:30 pm, 1 pm, 1:30 pm, 2:30 pm, 4 pm, 4:30pm, 5 pm, 5:30 pm, 6 pm and 6:30pm. Tours last approximately 30 minutes.
For the activities on October 3, pre-booking is necessary. Call +39 (0)11 5627396 or email agenziauno [at] agenziauno.com; it will also be possible to book events on the day itself inside the branch, depending on availability.
Additional Editorial Notes
Claudia Losi, Biography
(Born, Piacenza, Italy, 1971)
After graduating from the Bologna Academy of Fine Arts and the Bologna University of Foreign Languages and Literature in 1994, Claudia attended a workshop with the artist Hamish Fulton at the Fondazione Antonio Ratti in Como. Her work is closely bound up with her direct experience of nature and her relationship with natural sciences and literature. The particular attention she pays to territorial influences and her research into new and harmonious relationships with nature leads her to express herself through a range of media and materials, often linked to traditional handicrafts such as sewing and embroidery, yet also including photography, video and performance. Slow, dilated rhythms and a strong relational component constitute fundamental aspects of her work. Large canvases, maps, bundles of material with natural subjects embroidered onto them (e.g., maps, animals, flowers, physical gestures) lie at the heart of her projects, which always reflect her stunningly broad awareness of the world, including ecological, social and emotional dimensions. Her main solo exhibitions include “Marmagne,” at the Luigi Franco Gallery in Turin in 2000; “Walkscape,” with Matteo Meschiari at the Italian Cultural Institute of Washington, DC, in 2001; “I Mari,” at the Monica De Cardenas Gallery in Milan in 2003; and “Places,” at the GAM in Bologna as a part of Spazio Aperto in 2004. In 2006, the Monica de Cardenas Gallery dedicated a solo exhibition to her work displaying four installations linked to her “Balena Project.” The project began in 2002 with the creation of a life-size finback whale – the largest and fastest cetacean in the Mediterranean – made out of fabric. This work then became the catalyst for events, performances and public meetings, and was hosted by galleries as well as by town squares, schools and outlying urban districts from Italy to Ecuador, gathering stories, traditions and intercultural experiences from a number of countries all around the world focusing on the theme of society and the environment. In 2007, she exhibited one of her projects at the Aria Mobile show held at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, and she also took part in the Sharjah Biennial in the Arab Emirates. In 2008, she presented three solo exhibitions: at the Marino Marini Museum in Florence, at the Stenersen Museum of Oslo and at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. In 2009, she created works for Spazio Milano at the UniCredit Bank branch in Piazza Cordusio, Milan, as well as an installation for the first edition of ArtePollino, which was held in Basilicata, Italy in the incomparable Pollino National Park.
Invito a Palazzo
Organized by ABI, the Italian Banking Association, with the patronage of the president of the Italian Republic and the support of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, Invito a Palazzo opens the bank’s historical buildings to the public, free of charge. This, the eighth edition of the initiative, includes 52 banks and 93 palazzos in 47 Italian cities. UniCredit Group is pleased to take part in this event by opening the doors to 16 palazzos, including Palazzo Cordusio in Milan, which is the headquarters of UniCredit Group and the location of UniCredit Bank’s flagship branch.
Spazio Milano
Spazio Milano was created to bring the worlds of business and culture together while spreading the language of contemporary art and promoting young artists and a range of creative idioms. Since 2007, it has engaged a significant number of institutions in its activities, including: the Brera Academy, the NABA, the Polytechnic, Avis, Contrasto, the Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany, the State Archives, the Adriano & Michele Atelier of Painting of the Fatebenefratelli psychiatric rehabilitation center, the Study Center of the History of Publishing and Journalism, and the Regional Council of Lombardy. This prestigious list affirms Spazio Milano’s role as an exposition space at the heart of the city and, above all, its function as a place where the public comes to meet and mingle. UniCredit Group has consistently dedicated itself to the enhancement and conservation of the cultural traditions and heritage of all the countries in which it operates. This commitment translates into the Group’s willingness to foster and support a wide range of projects across Europe, from music to the visual arts, that focus on the common themes of shared values, integration and the exchange of creative ideas, all while fully respecting the distinctive identities of every cultural setting.
In 2009, Spazio Trento was opened in its namesake city in an extension of the Spazio Milano concept. Located within the newly renovated branch in Palazzo Firmian, the space is dedicated to benefitting the public by hosting artistic and cultural events.
UniCredit & Art
Through the UniCredit & Art project, the Group promotes up-and-coming young talent in the fields of art, music and literature. It also promotes the development of contemporary art through collaborations with a wide network of cultural partners, including many of the most prominent players on the arts scene – artists, academies, museums, publishing houses and cultural institutions across Europe.
UniCredit Group
Among the foremost financial groups in Europe, UniCredit Group operates in 22 countries with approximately 10,000 branches and 168,000 employees. In addition to Italy, the Group is present in Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine. UniCredit Group’s artistic patrimony stands out by virtue of its diversity, size and historical significance, with works from Italy, Austria, Germany and every other country in which the Group is to be found. A selection of works may be viewed at the online “virtual museum” at http://www.unicreditgroup.eu , which will be updated on October 15.
Contacts
UniCredit & Art, unicreditandart [at] unicreditgroup.eu
Viviana Vestrucci – Tel. +39 (0)2 8727 5790
Vvestrucci.external [at] unicreditgroup.eu
