Instituto Artium receives site-specific by Felice Varini

Conceived especially for the architecture of the Instituto Artium, the four new works by the Swiss artist based in Paris provoke questions about the reality and fiction of architectural space, making the public an actor in their own experience.

 

 

Hybrid works that mix scenography, painting and photography open countless possibilities for the public to observe a city, a neighbourhood, a building or a cultural space in other ways. This is the motto of the work of Felice Varini, Swiss artist based in Paris, who is exhibiting his first solo show in Brazil, occupying the spaces of the Instituto Artium. Curated by the French Franck Marlot, the artistic intervention occupies the space from 11 November, with free admission.

For the show, Varini made a previous visit to Instituto Artium, a centennial palace that was originally the residence of the first consul of Sweden and now houses an important cultural centre of the city of São Paulo, to develop a detailed technical study, based on architectural observations, physical characteristics of the space and historical information of the space. From this study, he digitally created four new installations: Zig Zag De Quatorze Triangles, Doubles Cercles Concentriques, Sept Arcs De Cercles and Douze Petits Disques Dans Le Grand - which will physically occupy the exterior façade and three exhibition rooms of the Institute. According to the artist himself, his art is situated between reality and fictional space, proposing to the public an invitation to escape the city through the gaps of time.

"The exhibition at the Artium Institute gives the visitor the possibility to capture the site with a completely new vision. The two-dimensional painted work appears to the viewer at a single focal point and spreads out on the surfaces of the building as they move through the space. It is an opportunity for everyone to question the reality and fiction of architectural space and be actors in their own experience. As well as discovering a unique work that combines painting and anamorphosis in four original installations inspired by geometry and specially produced by the artist and his team," highlights Franck Marlot, curator of the show.

In his creations, Varini projects a plane in space that revolves around simple geometric shapes, such as the circle, the square, the ellipse, the triangle - sometimes solid or hollow -, painted in primary colours. At this focal point, the form seems to float as if levitating above the architecture that shelters it.

As the viewer moves, the two-dimensional form crumbles, extends to burst into dozens of "pieces of paint" that atomize in three-dimensional space and cover the walls, the ceiling, the stairway handrail, among other spaces. The gaze on the environment is transformed and the observer then rediscovers the architecture of the place due to this new pictorial information.

For Varini, in his works, the point of view is important, as painting reaches its full potential when the observer positions himself in a privileged space. By leaving it, the work generates infinite points of observation. "It is not, therefore, through this original point of view that I see the work done. It occurs in the set of points of view that the observer may have on it," comments the artist.

Architecture and urban space are the inspirations of Varini, who recognises São Paulo as a singular city for its heterogeneous architecture where the many historical stratifications, still visible, punctuate the city. According to Marlot, the specific relationship with the plane and space has also inspired Brazilian concretist and neoconcretist artists since the early 1950s. "Today, Felice Varini goes beyond the canvas format and offers an open work that confronts the scale of the building," adds the curator.

Each work by the Swiss artist proves to be unique, as it is the result of all the experiences surrounding the exhibition site. "My field of action is the architectural space and everything that constitutes it. I work on site each time in a different space and my work develops in relation to the spaces I encounter. I usually wander around the site observing its architecture, materials, history and function. From this spatial data and in reference to the last piece I produced, I designate a specific point of view from which my intervention takes shape. I begin to construct my painting from a situation. Reality is never altered, erased or modified, it interests me and seduces me in all its complexity. I work here and now", Varini reinforces.

Swiss by birth and based in Paris, Felice Varini has stood out throughout his career for his mastery of the delicate and fine technique of anamorphosis, the art of creating the illusion of a geometric form superimposed on a three-dimensional object.

His many achievements in public space include Mazan L'Abbaye in France in 2017; the Swiss village of Vercorin in 2009; Nagoya University in Japan in 2008; and the French commune Saint-Nazaire. At the Estuary Biennale, he presented the work 3 ellipses for 3 locks, commissioned for Cardiff Bay Dam, in the 2007 and 2009 editions.

In 2009, he participated in the Niigata Water and Land Art Festival in Japan and in the Singapore Biennale in 2008. The Red House / Antoine de Galbert Foundation dedicated an exhibition to him in 2007, as did the Osaka Art Kaleidoscope and the Antoine Museum. He also produced works at the Orangerie of the Palace of Versailles in 2006. In the same year, as part of Magenta éphémères, he presented the work Seven rights for five triangles - this work was first presented at Place de l'Odéon in 2003 as part of the Nuit Blanche operation and acquired by the City of Paris.

Franck Marlot is an independent international exhibition curator and art consultant. A specialist in concrete art and optics, he is known for curating world-class exhibitions in Brazil and France and for creating intellectual exchanges between Europe and South America.

At the beginning of his career, he worked for over twenty years alongside the famous Parisian gallerist Denise René. Franck has collaborated with several contemporary art fairs around the world. In 2019, his Parisian exhibition MUTATIO, which brought together twenty international artists, was part of the VIP programme of the FIAC art fair. The exhibition gathered more than 2,000 visitors in one week.

Franck is curator of a Vasarely exhibition that will take place in Nice during the summer and autumn of 2023. The exhibition will bring together more than thirty works by the Hungarian artist living in France Victor Vasarely, considered the "father of OP ART". The exhibition will feature digital artists who will dialogue with Vasarely's masterpieces.

A centenary palace at Rua Piauí, in the Higienópolis district, listed by Conpresp (Conselho Municipal de Preservação do Patrimônio Histórico, Cultural e Ambiental da Cidade de São Paulo) and recognised as a historical heritage site; 1700m² of eclectic architecture, built in the modernised Louis XVI style: this is the Instituto Artium, a cultural space in the city of São Paulo producing culture for all of Brazil.

The property was built to be the residence of the first consul of Sweden in São Paulo in 1921, passed through two of the great São Paulo coffee baron families and was owned by the Empire of Japan for 67 years (from 1940 to 2007). The residence was closed during World War II and in 1970, as a testimony to the history of Brazil at the time, the Consul General of Japan was kidnapped while arriving there.

Degraded since 1980, the space was taken over by the Artium Institute in 2019. Its president, businessman Carlos Cavalcanti, says that one of the missions was to carry out thorough restoration work aimed at maintaining and recovering the historical heritage of Palacete Stahl, revitalising gardens, strongly marked by Japanese culture, its façade, in French style, and recovering ornamental and decorative elements of the architecture of the time of its construction. The non-profit cultural entity also carries out an activity plan that brings together projects in the areas of preservation of intangible heritage, preservation of material heritage, visual arts and performing arts.

Comgás has over 19,000 kilometres of piped natural gas distribution network in 92 municipalities, supplying the industrial, commercial, residential, and automotive segments, as well as making cogeneration projects feasible and providing gas for thermo-generation plants. With uninterrupted supply and 24h service, the company serves over 2.1 million customers in its concession area in the State of São Paulo: the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, the Administrative Region of Campinas, Baixada Santista and Vale do Paraíba.

Presented by: Ministry of Tourism and Comgás

Organization: Artium Institute of Culture, Special Secretariat of Culture, Federal Government.

Exhibition fact sheet

Artist: Felice Varini

Curator: Franck Marlot

Artium Institute fact sheet

Chairman: Carlos A. Cavalcanti

General Manager: Vinícius Munhoz

Visual Arts Directors: Graziela Martine and Patrícia Barros A. de Souza

Technical Director: Caio Malfatti

Project Coordinator: Victor Delboni

Artium Institute

Address: Rua Piauí, 874 - Higienópolis, São Paulo - SP - Brazil - 01241-000

Exhibition period: From 11 November 2021 to 25 January 2022

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Free entry

Online booking on the Eventimwebsite