On 4th October 2014 Galleria Vistamare inaugurates an exhibition of the work of Rosa Barba with Leonor Antunes, Daniel Roth and Ettore Spalletti.
For her first comprehensive exhibition with the gallery, Rosa Barba presents a selection of new and existing works. These include three of her projector sculptures, a major new felt work, an object full of lighting gels, six large plaster casts containing the imprint of thousands of letterpress print blocks. Film is always a point of departure in Barba’s work, whether or not it contains the literal elements of projector, celluloid and screen. Of the three projector sculptures, only two of them actually present an image – the film on the third has no image but instead carries an optical soundtrack.
Through her installations, Rosa Barba continues her exploration of film and its capacity to simultaneously be an immaterial medium that carries information and a physical material with sculptural properties. These projector sculptures, like Focus Puller 2013 included in the show, often question the role of the screen, sometimes even making it redundant, dispensing altogether with the formal conventions of how a surface receives information.
The large felt square Sea Sick Passenger 2014 develops the formal language of previous felt ‘screens’ and introduces new elements. Its aspect ratio moves from 35mm’s wide rectangle to the square image of 16mm. Instead of being hung from the ceiling, it is laid out on the floor, slightly elevated so it just about casts a shadow. Like its predecessors, it is difficult to read, but especially so due to its scale and placement on the floor. The only perspective from which it is legible is looking down as you walk it. The reader’s body is introduced into the cinematic matrix, mimicking the movement of a typewriter arm across the page before scuttling back to begin the next line.
In addition to presenting these works, she has extended an invitation to three other artists to participate in her solo exhibition. Barba has entered a dialogue with Ettore Spalletti, Daniel Roth and Leonor Antunes and asked each to respond to an object she has sent them, or conversation they have had together. Spalletti received a set of marble carving tools, silver coloured rods with golden tips; she had a conversation with Roth about landscape as object; and gave Antunes a jar of blue pigment. The resulting pieces will be installed in their own rooms throughout the exhibition. Barba has no input into these works – in terms of her exhibition, they will enter it as unmediated found objects.
Rosa Barba (born 1972, Agrigento, Italy) lives and works in Berlin.
She studied at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, followed by a residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.
Recent selection of solo shows: CAC Vilnius, Lithuania, 2014; MAXXI Museo delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy, 2014; Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK, 2013; Bergen Kunsthall, Norway, 2013; Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK, 2013; MUSAC, Castilla y Leon, Spain, 2013, Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2012; Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland, 2012; Marfa Book Co, Marfa, Texas, 2012; Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, USA, 2012; Fondazione Galleria Civica-Center of Research on Contemporary Art, Trento and MART Museum, Rovereto, Italy, 2011.
Barba’s work is represented in numerous international collections such as Collezione MAXXI Arte, Rome, Italy; Collezione FRAC Piemonte, Vercelli, Italy; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Lemaître Collection, London; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark; Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto; Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Kunsthaus Zürich, MACBA Barcelona, Mambo Bologna and Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Germany.
Leonor Antunes (born in 1972, Lisbon, Portugal) lives and works in Berlin
Recent solo shows include: 2014 “a secluded and pleasant land in this land I wish to dwell” PAMM, Pérez Art Museum Miami, U.S.A. curated by Tobias Ostrander: 2013 “the last days in Chimalistac”, Kunsthale Basel, Basel, Switzerland, Curated by Adam Szymczyk: “a linha é tão fina que o olho apesar de aramado com uma lupa, imagina-a ao invés de ve-la”. Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon: “RAUMPLAN” Gallery Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil.: “the space of the window” artist’s choice, collection of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
Daniel Roth (1969, Schramberg, Germany) lives and works in Karlsruhe and Fohrenbühl.
Recent solo shows include: 2014 “Knochen-Code – Körper erzählen vom Krieg”, Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria; 2013 “Kartograph und Gelände”, Meyer Riegger, Berlin, Germany; “Wildwechsel”, Meyer Riegger, Karlsruhe, Germany; 2011 “Meuser, Daniel Roth, Corinne Wasmuht”, Berlin, Germany; 2010 “Mamco Genf/Geneva”, Switzerland; “Frans Hals” Museum De Hallen, Haarlem, NL; Meyer Riegger, Berlin, Germany; 2009 Maccarone Inc, New York; “Portmeiron, Gwyllt Woods”, Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam.
Ettore Spalletti was born in 1940 in Cappelle sul Tavo – Pescara, Italy, where he still lives.
Recent solo shows include: Museo di Capodimonte, Naples – Italy (1999); Fundaciòn La Caixa, Madrid – Spain (2000); the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds – UK (2005); Accademia di Francia – Villa Medici, Rome – Italy (2006); Museum Kurhaus, Kleve – Germany (2009); Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome – Italy (2010); Museo MAXXI, Rome – Italy; Museo MADRE Naples – Italy, GAM, Turin – Italy (2014). He has participated in group shows amongst others: VII e IX Documenta, Kassel (1982 – 1992); XL Biennale (1982), XLIV Biennale (1993), XLVI Biennale (1995) and XLVII Biennale (1997) Venice – Italy.