GOD IS GREEN | SUPERBLAST Public Program
Manifattura Tabacchi, Florence
16 – 18 September, 2021
Press release
Federica Di Pietrantonio
‘SUPERBLAST’, from the Latin super-, ‘over’, and -blasto, from the Greek βλαστός ‘seed’, something large, which has yet to be born: this is the premise of the first edition of the artist residency project promoted by NAM: Not A Museum which is dedicated to the free artistic experimentation within the spaces at Manifattura Tabacchi. The exhibition will open to the public from the 16th to 18th of September and will display the work of six international artists – Edoardo Aruta, Antonio Obregón Bermúdez, Federica Di Pietrantonio, IPER-collettivo, Oliviero Fiorenzi, Violette Maillard – who were selected through an open call inspired by the intention to rethink the relationship between humans and the environment, the individual and society, nature and culture.
Oliviero Fiorenzi
IPER-collettivo
This exhibit is like an organism: it breathes and evolves according to the space and time requirements of each artist’s project. It belongs in the grey area between culturally diverse categories, overstepping the boundaries of a traditional exhibit. The idea of ecology as a new space in which to form relationships reveals itself in the research chosen by the six participating artists who have explored the following themes: the state of contemporary nature within the virtual dimension; the relationship between urban and natural environments; the intrinsic paradox of electric mobility; the seeds of colonialism in the representation of landscapes; art’s place in relationship to variables that cannot be controlled such as setting and context; the parallel between cultural and natural biodiversity.
Each artist presents an aspect of these themes and expands upon them, exploring them in the setting of the Manifattura, which itself is a space in evolution. Thus the SUPERBLAST participants contribute to Manifattura Tabacchi’s newfound identity, layered upon its preexisting history and enriched by a series of conversations, sparking what Nicolas Bourriaud refers to as the ‘infinite conversation’.
All the performances, sculptures, videos, and installations are the result of individual journeys, which share a web of similar threads of which the SUPERBLAST exhibition is a visual representation. Situated throughout the piazza, the garden, and Manifattura Tabacchi’s indoor spaces, the exhibit defies a linear vision of space and time. It is conceived with multiple centres and seeds which can, through human connections, evolve into forms that are extra-ordinary and extra-human.
Antonio Obregón Bermúdez
The themes find a space for dialogue and analysis through the talks of the 4th edition of God Is Green, the festival dedicated to sustainability and the future, conceived by Manifattura Tabacchi coming up from 15 to 21 September.
Thursday 16 September
Talk | 18:30-19:15
“The paradox of sustainable energy: between mobility and public space” with Violette Maillard (artist), Giovanni Ferrara (Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Florence), Oliviero Fiorenzi (artist), Alessandro Bianchini (Researcher at the Department of Energy Engineering of the University of Florence). Moderated by Andrea Zanni (popularizer).
Friday 17 September
Talk | 18:30-19:15
“Decolonizing narration and representation: towards new imaginaries” with Antonio Bermúdez Obregón (artist), Erica Petrillo (independent curator and writer), Edoardo Aruta (artist), Pietro Gaglianò (art critic) and Ilaria Gadenz (producer).
Saturday 18 September
Talk | 18:30-19:15
“The construction of the landscape: between real, ideal and virtual” with IPER-collettivo (artist), Federica Di Pietrantonio (artist), Daniela Cotimbo (art historian and curator), Eleonora Giannini (PhD student in Landscape Architecture). Moderated by Anna Lambertini (Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Florence).
SUPERBLAST EXHIBITION
GOD IS GREEN | SUPERBLAST Public Program
Manifattura Tabacchi, Florence
16 – 18 September, 2021
CREDITS
Photo: Leonardo Morfini, ADRYA