LACUNA exhibition by Sotto Sale Projects (London, UK), 2019.

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The interiors and the display of the gallery space was the result of my own interpretation of the themes behind LACUNA exhibition and Sotto Sale Projects manifesto.

This informed the ways I adopted to organise the space and emphasise each artwork on display, adopting a specific key of reading for each piece on display of the artists we featured: Yulia Iosilzon, Matete Martini and Barbara Alegre.

 

My interpretation of LACUNA moved from mentally associating it with the poetry “Meriggiare Pallido e Assorto” by Eugenio Montale. To me, a lacuna is a physical yet undefined space in which everyone can find him/herself from time to time without even realising it. A comfy room from which you don’t want to exit as it is actually more convenient than stepping out there. An impassable wall dividing you from society. It is that blinding light that we all look at finding ourselves disorientated and attracted by it at the same time. It could be also a vacuum in which to fluctuate, feeling pampered to some extents, as it is an undefined cage, without sharp edges and rich in a mesmerizing power.

Referring to Sotto Sale Projects own identity, a layering takes place in the gallery both spatially and metaphorically.

It is the case of the layering of fabrics to create the plinths, to cover the walls or to create surfaces in front of other wall surfaces.

The use of the fabric comes as a spatial synecdoche, referring to the canvases of the paintings.

Another extra layer is added to the composition by the art hanged in front of the fabrics, twisting a traditional way of hanging paintings with chains from the ceiling in front of wallpaper-covered walls.

 

All the gallery set-up aimed to be a spatial representation of the metaphor of the chimeral void surrounding the individual, “Transcending lines between the real and the virtual, and revealing the fragility of a society rooted in individualism. Opening a spectrum of new possibilities where “we can do lots of things…”. This wish to be just the beginning.

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