SMALL WHEEL BIG WHEEL
Wunderkammern Gallery, Rome, 2014
The exhibition “Small wheel, big wheel” examines the subject of play as a moment of suspension in everyday life, and the founding of new conventions. If on one hand play is, in fact, the space for freedom of imagination, on the other it is based on any given community’s adherence to a set of rigid rules, even if temporary. Countering this severity, though, is an enormous fragility, due in part to its inherent transience, and to the looming possibility that an unexpected event might break its spell. Play is simultaneously both a timeless “magical space” (Huizinga, 2002) and an “uncertain island”, characterized, according to Caillois, “by randomness, by the ambiguity of the costume, and by the disconcerting effects of vertigo” (Rovatti, 2013, 9).
The exhibited works explore the delicate and complex symbioses that are triggered by seemingly simple actions. Extremity, hazard, devotion, impermanence, and obsession are just a just a few of the myriad ingredients of play that have profound parallels in the creative processes of artistic production. In conjunction with the project Public & Confidential, Iacurci focuses his attention on the atemporal dimension of the playground: that place symbolizing the discovery of play as a social practice and public space where first encounters occur and cultural parameters take shape.New works by the artist will be showcased: drawings, paintings, objects and installations in public space that compete to outline the portrait of a “tenderly stiff” humanity in its rediscovery of uncertainty.
As a preview to the show, the artist has created the public piece “Zero Infinito” on the facade of the building of I.I.S.S. Di Vittorio-Lattanzio, on via Aquilonia, near the gallery.
Pictures by Giorgio Coen Cagli
