THE WORKS OF ARTISTS CHEMUTAI NG'OK AND RICCARDO BENASSI WILL BE ON SHOW FROM 25 JANUARY TO 18 MARCH 2023 AT ICA MILANO, ISTITUTO CONTEMPORANEO PER LE ARTI, IN VIA OROBIA 26 JUST BEYOND THE FONDAZIONE PRADA IN THE RIPAMONTI DISTRICT, A FORMER INDUSTRIAL AREA NEAR THE SCALO DI PORTA ROMANA THAT IS CURRENTLY UNDERGOING URBAN REDEVELOPMENT AND WILL HOST THE MILAN-CORTINA 2026 OLYMPIC VILLAGE.
Ica Milano, directed by Alberto Salvadori, was founded as a private non-profit foundation dedicated to researching and experimenting with contemporary art languages and their interdisciplinary nature, including art publishing, cinema, music, performance, ceramics, educational and therapeutic activities.
The first Institute of Contemporary Arts was opened in London in the second part of the 1940s to promote artistic experimentation away from conventional and institutionalized art venues, a kind of ideal place to release the desire for innovation, a constant reflection on expression for future expressions.
AN IMPRESSION THAT MAY POSSIBLY LAST FOREVER curated by Chiara Nuzzi is the first European solo exhibition of Kenyan artist Chemutai Ng'ok.
The paintings and drawings exhibited in the rooms on the first floor of the industrial building in Via Orobia courtyard focus on the theme of confrontation, the tension of power dynamics and the effects on the collective psyche.
Her artistic career places great emphasis on social issues and contemporary politics and draws inspiration from her personal experiences.
The forms that move across the canvas are signs that emerge and flow swirling and thrown over the edge, revealing faces and bodies hinted at and fused in a dynamic magma, signs that burrow into the mind like memories with a strong impact.
The sensation is that of a continuous, swinging contrast between anxiety and calm intimacy revealed.
MORESTALGIA - installation by the artist Riccardo Benassi and curated by Alberto Salvadori - is an Italian premiere and occupies the ground floor rooms with LED screens and HD video.
Sentiment, technology and language are the keywords in Benassi's exploration, which authorizes the intrusion of the public into the large LED screen designed in 2019.
The spectator observes his own body and the bodies of others moving in the white room of which the sculpture is an integral part, reads the writings that flow in continuous succession while in transparency he sees people moving away, approaching, observing, reading, entering, reflecting, commenting, taking photos…
Artificial intelligence and automation of creativity predominate in DAILY DESIRE DOMESTIC, an interactive LED panel/sculpture programmed to transmit daily ever-changing phrases created by the artist and visible only for twenty-four hours, thanks to remote and autonomous broadcasting.
Since 2019 it has been on permanent display in the foundation's spaces.
by DMM
for Dare Clan
images taken by DMM at Fondazione Ica Milano