Bruna Esposito e così sia…

cm 400 x 400 x 90 diametro

Bruna Esposito employs a variety of expressive media, performance, photography and video, also using natural elements such as fire and water, often transformed into impermanent sculptures and temporary installations. The installation "e così sia…" was created for the exhibition “Migrazioni e Multiculturalità”, at the former Centro nazionale per le arti contemporanee of Rome, today the MAXXI. For over two months, every day, the artist placed legumes and grains on the floor of the museum in a circular shape, to form a leftward swastika, with a central stove and a glass bowl containing water and bay leaves. The methodical nature of the process, aimed at the purification of the swastika, becomes a propitiatory rite of positivity and votive for hope. The work invites us to reflect on the genetic manipulation of crops and the risks that this entails for mankind. A bag full of legumes and a poem by Paola D’Agnese, offered to the public on the opening day, completed the work, emphasizing the meaning of the swastika: “Pinwheel of light with ancient meanings related to the sun, to good fortune, to energy, strength, drew its symbolic power. Ill winds moved it elsewhere, turning off its light, bringing it far, far away from its primordial meaning.” At the end of the exhibition, the artist removed the materials that composed the work, until then just pieces of an ephemeral mosaici; she was accompanied by the singing of the verses, sung by herself. Future re-stagings will take place following Esposito’s instructions, including those regarding the dismantling ritual.

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M. Beccaria (ed.), Bruna Esposito, exhibition catalogue (Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea), Milan 2002. Bruna Esposito: Appunti 1986-2003, exhibition catalogue (Milan, Federico Luger Gallery), Milan 2006. F. Bonami (ed.), Italics. Arte italiana fra tradizione e rivoluzione, Milan 2008. C. Subrizi (ed.), Azioni che cambiano il mondo, Milan 2012.

Foto Luis Do Rosario

Premio per la Giovane Arte Italiana 2000

Installation