The Blue Project Foundation materialises the thoughts of Italo Calvino
In the exhibition "Little left to tell", which can be seen up until the 31st of October, twelve works of art combine to represent the Italian author's proposals for the new millennium
In 1985, fifteen years before we entered the new era, renowned author Ital Calvino was due to present six conferences at Harvard University dealing with the aesthetic concepts that would mark the turn of the millennium. Entitled Six proposals for the new millennium, the aim of the conferences was for Calvino to present some of the qualities that he considered relevant and integrate them into the new era: visibility, quickness, lightness, exactitude, multiplicity and consistency. Though Calvino died just a week before crossing the Atlantic, his drafts and presentations were collected in the format of a book entitled Little left to tell, which now forms the basis for an exhibition that can be seen in the Blue Project Foundation up until the 31st of October.
Curated by Aurélien Le Genissel and Renato Della Poeta, the exhibition consists of twelve works of art that have been grouped into pairs and which attempt to offer a reflection on the author's concepts fifteen years after the start of the second millennium.
The concept of 'exactitude' is represented by Eclipse, by Laurent Grasso and Gianni Motti's Big Crunch Clock, a countdown that tells us how much time is left before the collapse of the solar system. 'Visibility', for its part, appears in Sophie Calle's series on blindness and beauty and the landscape of luminous clouds by Xavier Veilhan.
'Multiplicity' is represented by means of objects, by Daniel Firman, and social relationships, by Ryan McGinley, while 'lightness' is exemplified by a disturbing image by Sam Taylor-Johnson and a frayed rope by Elmgreen&Dragstet. 'Quickness' juxtaposes an hourglass by Ignasi Aballí with '33 questions per minute' by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, while 'Consistency' is represented by the vital labyrinths of Michael Sailstorfer and the infinite literary creation project of Dora García.
In all, a dialogue between art and literature that unites six concepts by one of the most influential writers of the 20th century with twelve works of art by renowned contemporary creators and a fitting way to commemorate thirty years since the death of Calvino and his prophetic predictions.
Little is left to tell (Calvino after Calvino)
When: up until the 31st of October
Tickets: 3€
Where: Blueproject Foundation
More information here