Lost in Narration

Lost in Narration is a major new exhibition, guest curated by Manuela Pacella, that brings together several multi-layered projects across a range of media by Italian artists Riccardo Giacconi, Invernomuto and Luca Trevisani.

Each respective body of research brings these artists far from the relative comfort of Western Europe, with Giacconi considering the cultural and historical resonances evoked by Colombian puppet character, el espiritado; Invernomuto unpacking complex histories and stories between Italy, Ethiopia and Jamaica; and Trevisani working in a small town in Kenya with a group of researchers to study the fraught existence of Sudan, the world’s only surviving male Northern White Rhinoceros.

These three projects have all been conceived in relation to little-known and marginal events, delving into vernacular languages, oral histories, and personal curiosities, where the artistic research processes employed perform incredible leaps across space and time to create new and unexpected forms of perception and meaning.

Presented as singular propositions filling the MAC’s galleries, this exhibition can nevertheless still be read as a unified whole that unexpectedly reveals itself as a complex, connected system across the building. Lost in Narration invites audiences to go somewhat adrift, to allow these artists to tentatively offer up unique new tales for us to step into and discover for ourselves.

Riccardo Giacconi studied fine arts at the University IUAV of Venice, at UWE in Bristol and at New York University. His work has been exhibited in various institutions, such as WUK Kunsthalle Exnergasse (Vienna), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne (France), tranzitdisplay (Prague), MAXXI (Rome), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Turin) and in the “Résonance” section of the Lyon Biennale. He was artist-in-residence at: Centre international d’art et du paysage (Vassivière, France), lugar a dudas (Cali, Colombia), MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome and La Box (Bourges). 

Giacconi’s work for this project has been commissioned by ar/ge kunst and FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, with further support from Centrale Fies in Dro.

Simone Bertuzzi and Simone Trabucchi have been collaborating as Invernomuto since 2003. Although they primarily work in moving image and sound, Invernomuto also integrate sculpture, publishing and performance in their practice. Recent solo exhibitions include Africa Addio, Pinksummer, Genoa (2015); MALÙ, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Toronto (2015); Artspeak, Vancouver (2015); Wondo Genet, AuditoriumArte, Rome (2015); Anabasis Articulata, Triennale di Milano, Milan (2014); Marsèlleria, Milan (2014); Negus – Far Eye, Museion, Bozen (2014); I-Ration, ar/ge kunst, Bozen (2014). Bertuzzi and Trabucchi also pursue individual practices in the field of music, performing under the names Palm Wine and STILL respectively.

Luca Trevisani researches and makes work that exists between sculpture and video, and disciplines that are inter-related, such as the performing arts, graphics, design, experimental cinema and architecture. He has participated in exhibitions and awards in major centers and art museums, including Museo Marino Marini (2014); MAXXI, Rome (2012); MACRO, Rome (2010); Haus am Waldsee (2012); Magasin, Grenoble (2011); Mart, Rovereto (2011); Venice Architecture Biennale (2008-2010); Manifesta7 (2008); Museion, Bozen (2008); Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2007); Daimler Kunstsammlung, Berlin (2011); CCA Antratx, Mallorca (2011); Giò Marconi Milan (2008); Pinksummer, Genoa (2006–09); MAMbo, Bologna (2009). Glaucocamaleo, presented at the 2013 Festival del Cinema in Rome, was his first feature film.

Manuela Pacella is an Italian art historian, curator and writer currently based in Graz, Austria. She has worked both within public institutions such as the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (Rome) and the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica (Rome), as well as many private galleries. Since 2007 she has been operating as an independent curator and writing as an art critic for exhibition catalogues and art magazines. Since curating a project in Belfast in 2012, she has developed a strong interest in Northern Irish history and art and has built on this connection through participation in ICI’s first European Curatorial Intensive in 2013 at CCA Derry~Londonderry, and through an International Residency at Flax Art Studios.