Agorà
permanent sound installation
OPENArchival Platform
Paolo Masi
Progetto RIVA 2021
RIVA Project 2021
40,000 nails (2018) permanently marks the second cell on the third floor of the Le Murate Complex after the long work carried out on commission by the RIVA Project for the QUI solo show (2018). The wall, meant as a geographical map of a iction, took shape gradually, as the work progressed and as the wall reacted, collapsing under the blows of the hammer and the wounds caused by the nails. In this place of seclusion and, at a later stage, of confinement, Masi wanted to reproduce the forced bond of the persons living in those cells, the prisoners of those hostile walls that were anyway the only element of the outer world the convicts could deal with. Hence the contraposition with the river, which is instead in constant flow, whose waters never inhabit the same place.
40,000 nails (2018) permanently marks the second cell on the third floor of the Le Murate Complex after the long work carried out on commission by the RIVA Project for the QUI solo show (2018). The wall, meant as a geographical map of a iction, took shape gradually, as the work progressed and as the wall reacted, collapsing under the blows of the hammer and the wounds caused by the nails. In this place of seclusion and, at a later stage, of confinement, Masi wanted to reproduce the forced bond of the persons living in those cells, the prisoners of those hostile walls that were anyway the only element of the outer world the convicts could deal with. Hence the contraposition with the river, which is instead in constant flow, whose waters never inhabit the same place.
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RIVA Project 2021
Traces on the Territory includes two series of Polaroid photographs, taken during the author’s artist residency at MAD for the RIVA Project in 2018.
On display here is a significant selection of both cycles, devoted to the Le Murate Complex and the Arno River, respectively. These works – one in colour and one in black and white – unite the two places not only from a conceptual but also from a stylistic point of view.
The Polaroid series, which Masi has produced since the seventies, testify to the artist’s obsessive attention to the sign. In the close-ups, the gaze dissolves the context, focusing solely on the traces, be it human or natural prints, crystallised by the photograph that relays ciphered tales, iconic and precious sequences that embody the deep folds of these places.
Traces on the Territory includes two series of Polaroid photographs, taken during the author’s artist residency at MAD for the RIVA Project in 2018.
On display here is a significant selection of both cycles, devoted to the Le Murate Complex and the Arno River, respectively. These works – one in colour and one in black and white – unite the two places not only from a conceptual but also from a stylistic point of view.
The Polaroid series, which Masi has produced since the seventies, testify to the artist’s obsessive attention to the sign. In the close-ups, the gaze dissolves the context, focusing solely on the traces, be it human or natural prints, crystallised by the photograph that relays ciphered tales, iconic and precious sequences that embody the deep folds of these places.
This content is avaiable only in this archive.
Promoted by the MUS.E Association under the artistic direction of Valentina Gensini
In 2018, the RIVA Project resumed its collaboration with Pelago and Montelupo Fiorentino, involving both the historic centre and the outskirts of Florence. Its action paid special attention to environmental issues, as well as the economic, political, and social context. One of the principal events was Paolo Masi’s solo show QUI with a display of twelve new site-specific artworks produced during his six-month residency at MAD Murate Art District. Montelupo Fiorentino was the centre of activity for Yuval Avital and the ConFusion migrant choir directed by Benedetta Manfriani, for Tempo Reale and its Sentieri del silenzio (Paths of Silence) project carried out at the former psychiatric hospital, and for Radio Papesse with Storie dell’Arno a Montelupo (Histories of the Arno in Montelupo). The other town crossed by the Arno, Pelago, hosted photographer Davide Virdis (who presented an exhibit in a public space and held a workshop in collaboration with Fondazione Studio Marangoni) and Stud
In 2018, the RIVA Project resumed its collaboration with Pelago and Montelupo Fiorentino, involving both the historic centre and the outskirts of Florence. Its action paid special attention to environmental issues, as well as the economic, political, and social context. One of the principal events was Paolo Masi’s solo show QUI with a display of twelve new site-specific artworks produced during his six-month residency at MAD Murate Art District. Montelupo Fiorentino was the centre of activity for Yuval Avital and the ConFusion migrant choir directed by Benedetta Manfriani, for Tempo Reale and its Sentieri del silenzio (Paths of Silence) project carried out at the former psychiatric hospital, and for Radio Papesse with Storie dell’Arno a Montelupo (Histories of the Arno in Montelupo). The other town crossed by the Arno, Pelago, hosted photographer Davide Virdis (who presented an exhibit in a public space and held a workshop in collaboration with Fondazione Studio Marangoni) and Studio ++ collective art group.
The Murate Art District was the venue for lectures and Italian and English classes held by LWCircus and the Department of Architecture from the University of Florence. The 2018 edition of the RIVA Project opened to the Far East thanks to a partnership with Zhong Art International, and offered a residency at MAD to three Chinese artists, who were invited to provide their specific vision of the Arno River.
A cura di Valentina Gensini
The significant meeting between Le Murate. Progetti Arte Contemporanea in Florence and Paolo Masi produced a site-specific work dedicated by this Florentine artist to this unique place with a long and articulated history.
The exhibition project is born from a direct comparision between the artist, environments and the history of the Murate city complex, in the sign of a new production. The entire district is reread by Masi as a place of memory linked to isolation, voluntary as in a convent, or forced, as in a prison.
The exhibited works involve the entire monumental complex, from the interior spaces of Le Murate. Progetti Arte Contemporanea to public spaces such as the façade, the fountain in Madonna della Neve square or the interior of the semi-octagon. The relationship with the Murate cultural distrect makes this project a great public work that reflects on the history of this particular part of the city
The significant meeting between Le Murate. Progetti Arte Contemporanea in Florence and Paolo Masi produced a site-specific work dedicated by this Florentine artist to this unique place with a long and articulated history.
The exhibition project is born from a direct comparision between the artist, environments and the history of the Murate city complex, in the sign of a new production. The entire district is reread by Masi as a place of memory linked to isolation, voluntary as in a convent, or forced, as in a prison.
The exhibited works involve the entire monumental complex, from the interior spaces of Le Murate. Progetti Arte Contemporanea to public spaces such as the façade, the fountain in Madonna della Neve square or the interior of the semi-octagon. The relationship with the Murate cultural distrect makes this project a great public work that reflects on the history of this particular part of the city
Progetto RIVA
Born in Florence in 1933, has been active since the 1950s. He studied first in Milan, then in other areas of Europe where he matched wits with other talents and came into contact with the work of the great European abstractionists from whom he learned the lessons of strict formal rigour. In the 1960s, his production shifted from abstract-geometric works to compositions showing an absolute sensibility for colour and, in the 1970s, to research and use of new materials. His works of this period are characterised by use of corrugated cardboard. In the works of the 1980s, he undertook intense research into colour in relation to space, creating works from which colour as a strong aspect of his personality is easily deduced. In the 2000s, Masi began using such new materials as Plexiglas, with which he has created rectangular and round works in brilliant colours. Since his early experiences with Informale painting and concrete abstractionism, Masi’s work has been articulated, complex and div
Born in Florence in 1933, has been active since the 1950s. He studied first in Milan, then in other areas of Europe where he matched wits with other talents and came into contact with the work of the great European abstractionists from whom he learned the lessons of strict formal rigour. In the 1960s, his production shifted from abstract-geometric works to compositions showing an absolute sensibility for colour and, in the 1970s, to research and use of new materials. His works of this period are characterised by use of corrugated cardboard. In the works of the 1980s, he undertook intense research into colour in relation to space, creating works from which colour as a strong aspect of his personality is easily deduced. In the 2000s, Masi began using such new materials as Plexiglas, with which he has created rectangular and round works in brilliant colours. Since his early experiences with Informale painting and concrete abstractionism, Masi’s work has been articulated, complex and diversified at the technical-linguistic level. His works become conceptual markers in the landscape and, in the case of his Polaroids, act as analytic studies of urban codes. His intensive activity continues and is acknowledged both in Italy and abroad; his works are featured in the collections of MART of Rovereto, the Galleria d’Arte Moderna of Palazzo Pitti in Florence and the Galleria d’Arte Moderna of Turin, the Museo Pecci of Prato and the Museo Novecento of Florence. His works are all characterised by an unceasing experimental evolution capable of extending even to broad urban spaces.
Paolo Masi
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Paolo Masi
The works on show engage the entire monumental complex, from the interior spaces of Le Murate. Progetti Arte Contemporanea to the public spaces of the complex such as the facade, the fountain in Piazza Madonna della Neve, the interior of the Semiottagono.
The former cells will host a series of site-specific installations that invite the visitor to reflect on the concepts of confinement and meditation.
The works – conceived by the artist to intentionally make use of ‘hard’ materials such as nails and steel wool, or to scratch and ‘mark’ the walls of the complex – are founded on actions of chromatic matrix and others of materic origin, consistently with the lengthy and structured path through art that has characterised his entire production. His actions in/on the spaces thus become conceptual markers along a course of serried, highly coherent research that doubles back to experimental practices first launched in the Seventies, now presented in a new guise an
The works on show engage the entire monumental complex, from the interior spaces of Le Murate. Progetti Arte Contemporanea to the public spaces of the complex such as the facade, the fountain in Piazza Madonna della Neve, the interior of the Semiottagono.
The former cells will host a series of site-specific installations that invite the visitor to reflect on the concepts of confinement and meditation.
The works – conceived by the artist to intentionally make use of ‘hard’ materials such as nails and steel wool, or to scratch and ‘mark’ the walls of the complex – are founded on actions of chromatic matrix and others of materic origin, consistently with the lengthy and structured path through art that has characterised his entire production. His actions in/on the spaces thus become conceptual markers along a course of serried, highly coherent research that doubles back to experimental practices first launched in the Seventies, now presented in a new guise and with an authentic odour, rigorously measured against the spaces.
The exhibition also presents two never-before-seen Polaroid cycles, one dedicated to Le Murate, a space of isolation and reflection; the other to the Arno river, an open, changeling ambience, remindful of a world and a life outside the walls. ‘What most struck me was the aura of the site, where the stone walls carry evident signs of many passages, of cloistered nuns and prisoners,’ Paolo Masi has said. ‘With the Polaroid shots, I have tried to render this emotional visibility. The exhibition centres on pointing up the peculiarities of this space, so different from a gallery or a museum, which, as a production site, allows the imagination room to express itself freely and totally. On my very first visit here, I decided to give concrete form to feelings and emotions on two different planes: the dramatic, on the third floor, where the cells are linked by an extremely coercive history; while on the lower floor, the incised white of the wall, the two large cartons and the three folded papers suggest a geometry that is alternative to the sense of physical ‘enclosure’ that was the original function of the site.’
From the meeting between Le Murate. Progetti Arte Contemporanea and Paolo Masi, a site specific project was born, which the Florentine artist wanted to dedicate to this unique place, a space of memory, imprisonment, voluntary but also forced imprisonment. Thus was born "Here. Paolo Masi" an important monographic exhibition composed of twelve monumental works specially conceived and created for the spaces of the Murate. The exhibition project is the result of a direct comparison between the artist, the environment and the history of the city complex under the sign of a new production.
