Beyond the Darkness

The Ala Scaligera of the Rocca di Angera opens its spaces to host the new contemporary art exhibition Oltre il buio, curated by Alberto Salvadori and in collaboration with Galleria Franco Noero, until 1 October.

Artists: Lothar Baumgarten, Pablo Bronstein, Jason Dodge, Sam Falls, Lara Favaretto,
Piero Gilardi, Henrik Håkansson, Mark Handforth, Jim Lambie, Jac Leirner,
Robert Mapplethorpe, Mike Nelson, Henrik Olesen, Simon Starling, Francesco Vezzoli.

Works by 15 artists celebrate the extraordinary development of light, which, ever since the origins of humanity, has favoured a form of coexistence between mankind and nature, between mankind and art.

The central theme is the evolution of mankind’s perception, who, through light, has discovered the need to see something that is not just what is visible naturally, but rather the visible of our unconscious, of the part of us that is inscrutable.

The “Oltre il buio” exhibition route winds its way through the rooms of the castle, a symbolic location where ever since antiquity people, in addition to seeking protection, also sought a harmonious equilibrium between interior and exterior, between nature and artefact.

The works of light of Mark Handforth, sited in the first room of the wing of the castle, in the proximity of the wine cellar, illuminate a place that was the living witness of seasonal work, of daily attention to the product, and a place that starts us off on a path where the relationship between people and nature is manifest and rendered intense by the dialogue between outside and inside, between architecture and landscape, between two representations of majesty that nevertheless do not conceal their fragility.

This theme is anticipated by the sundial, shelter and support for the birds of the castle, positioned by Henrik Håkansoon on the outer walls of the building. Already in the Classical age, in the extraordinary De rerum natura by Lucretius, the relationship with the elements of nature was the prerogative of Epicurean philosophy and clearly distinguished between who in life is moved by useless and harmful illusions and who possesses the doctrine of the wise, and therefore inhabits “templa serena”.

In reference to the ancient literary text, curator Alberto Salvadori comments: “If today we still continue to read De rerum natura, to experience pleasure, wonder or dismay by reading through its verses, it is certainly not on account of its scientific value, but rather on account of the poetic force of its images, and because through these we witness the unravelling of conflicts and contradictions, which, though remaining well identified within the specific historical-cultural reality in which these texts were written, nevertheless still maintain an illustrative value in our time. Thus we behold the power of the work to withstand time, particularly its own time. Angera is a location that carries these qualities with it and the presence of artists within it connects with and is grafted onto this unavoidable path. For this reason, Angera does not cease to speak to us after many centuries; it invites us into its presence and proudly hosts works and artists, persisting in being a bridge and resource between humans and nature”.

The second room of this exhibition route conveys a reflection based on the conception of space, the fortress, understood as protection from other men and from nature. Three works are in dialogue with each other in apparently antithetical but essentially coordinated terms: In a rough and direct assembly, Mike Nelson sums up evidence of a spontaneous archaeology, wood destined for everyday use, probably for burning. A representation expressing all the hard work of rural life and all the fascinating angularity that it can render. The roots and trunks of wood, extracted and placed in terms of sculpture, appear in this way, raw, in their essence, fragile at the same time, since extracted from their natural context. Cool greyhounds photographed by Simon Starling are placed alongside and dominate this pile. Everything is held together by a solitary image of flowers, full of sensuality as only the photography of Robert Mapplethorpe can show; fixed, they are reminders of the transience of time and life, being engrossed in their beauty.

Proceeding along the route, we encounter the exploration by canoe, again by Simon Starling, who guides us towards an absolute unknown in which we can shelter in a countermelody to the safety of defence inspired by the fortress. The ascent towards the upper floors of the fortress begins with the irreverent encounter of a hanging sculpture by Jim Lambie, light and gracious, which overturns the certainty of being anchored to the earth.

The first large hall of environments that were once domestic and are today used for visits immediately places visitors in a direct relationship between inside and outside. A floral reminiscence, a composition with a courtly flavour, by Sam Falls, contributes, together with the work by Jason Dodge, to instilling an initial tranquillity, an arrival, a rest, immediately after the first effort that helps, thanks to a fragile and immediate sculpture by Henrik Olesen, Biology Is Straight, take us back to the truth of the natural world, thanks to which misunderstandings and partisan interpretations are silenced. In his work on the wall, Henrik Håkansoon transforms the painting into a living subject and thus, in an assertive and poetic way, echoes how nature can freely appropriate or reappropriate spaces given or left free by the hand of humankind. We position ourselves in this room to listen for what we will find immediately afterwards.

One of the most important explorers of the other, a fundamental artist in having contributed to the knowledge of loftier forms of life and civilization, different from our own, is Lothar Baumgarten, who transports us into a faraway, apparently fragile context, where a hut seems to float on the river of our sensations. Robert Mapplethorpe’s images once again seek to create a balancing with the expressive force of the sculpture on the ground and find it in the countermelody of the industrial find, a symbol of a mobility and an age like the artist’s Beetle. A small precious cloth, a haiku, by Jason Dodge, moves us even further, towards Myanmar, a precious and long glorified location.

On the upper floor we find the dichotomic presence amid the sprezzatura of the drawings of Pablo Bronstein, where the impressions of courtly life emanated by the artist’s love for Castiglione and his essays, presented by a phantasmagorical inkwell, immersed and submerged in the black waters of an imaginative lake, coexists and contrasts with the crudeness and joyousness of Jim Lambie, who transforms the result of daily work, the prosaic and decisive product for entire populations, resistant to the most austere climates, the potato, into sculpture. Everything happens not so much with the use of the tubers themselves, but rather with the bags that contain them for distribution. Lambie colours these bags with pop, precious, industrial pigments, forming assemblies on the wall, awkward and ironic at the same time, linking up well with the ethereal presence of Jac Leirner and his air sculpture created by a practice that has its roots in the 1980s in which the daily newspaper, in its most anonymous expressions, becomes artwork, sculpture, resignified object.

The exhibition closes with a dialogue between the tree to welcome people by Lara Favaretto, the nature carpets by Piero Gilardi and the lace embroidery of Francesco Vezzoli, with a famous canvas by Fragonard is its subject, conversing with Classicism placed in a cage as though it were an exotic animal. Nature enters the building directly and the materials used by the artists become antithetical to the natural elements surrounding the fortress, making sure that there is no sense of that disappearance of expression and thought of one time, as it was in the past, when it was usual to build everything out of wood or other perishable materials.

The Scaligera Wing of the castle dates back to the 13th century but is the result of countless alterations over the following years. Substantial was the 1370 intervention attributed to Bernabò Visconti in honour of his wife Regina Della Scala. Currently, this wing of the castle, which underwent a conservative restoration between 2015 and 2017, is mainly used for temporary exhibitions, especially of contemporary art.

Oltre il buio” [Beyond the darkness] exhibition 17 April – 1 October 2023, Ala Scaligera, Rocca di Angera (VA)
Opening hours: from 10am to 5.30pm
AON is the main sponsor of the exhibition.