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    in Exhibitions

    ‘We Try to Absorb the Narrative in the Field’: See How Richard Mosse Is Rethinking What a Contemporary Documentary Image Can Do

    How do you depict the decimation of the Amazon rainforest? How do you bear witness to the disappearance of thousands of people in the Balkans, who simply never returned from war? What about the global refugee crisis? Or the dozens of armed factions fighting one another in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
    The Irish-born, New York City-based artist Richard Mosse‘s answer is to embed himself in these places of humanitarian crises, and to bear witness—literally, with his camera crew. Through this deep work, he sends images out into the world that tell a story beyond a simple headline.
    In an exclusive interview filmed with Art21 as part of the Extended Play series, Mosse, along with his collaborators Ben Frost and Trevor Tweeten, trek across the globe to tell the stories that elude the news cycle. “I’m very interested in trying to find a way to express extremely, deeply complex things by looking very carefully at these loaded landscapes,” he says.
    Production still from the “Extended Play” film “Richard Mosse: What the Camera Cannot See.” © Art21, Inc. 2022.
    Mosse manipulates photographic tools like infrared film or the thermal mapping technology used by the military in order to show the human cost of armed conflicts in Africa, and the refugee crisis in Europe. The conflicts are “very opaque,” the artist explains, “and that as a result means it is overlooked.”
    Instead, he explains, “I was taking a medium that literally can make visible what we can’t see and smashing it into an unseen-ness.”
    In his new film, Broken Spectre, which is on view now at 180 The Strand in London, Mosse takes on the subject of the Amazonian Rainforest, the destruction of which is “on a scale beyond what we can perceive.” Most of the images projected by the media are aerial shots of treetops, or the startling lack of them. The artist aimed to peel back the layers of what makes up the extraordinarily complex Amazon, documenting different aspects of the ecosystems that are being affected. “If you take one square inch… it’s just tripping with life,” Mosse says, describing how he used spectral imaging to create “very strange, almost gothic nocturnes” capturing the richness of plant and animal life.
    “My power, if I have any, is to be able to show you this, what I’ve seen, in a more powerful way,” Mosse says. “Or in a new and different way and to make you remember that.”

    Watch the video, which originally appeared as part of Art21’s series Art in the Twenty-First Century, below. “Richard Mosse — Broken Spectre” is on view at 180 The Strand through December 30, 2022.
    [embedded content]

    This is an installment of “Art on Video,” a collaboration between Artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips of news-making artists. A new season of the nonprofit Art21’s flagship series Art in the Twenty-First Century is available now on PBS. Catch all episodes of other series, like New York Close Up and Extended Play, and learn about the organization’s educational programs at Art21.org.

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    in Exhibitions

    James Turrell Just Debuted a Brand-New ‘Skyspace’ Near Bergen, Norway, to Give Viewers a Fresh Lens on the Majesty of the Scandinavian Sky

    An avid pilot who considers the sky his studio, James Turrell has shaped much of his career around the ethereal matter of light, air, and space. Works like the ambitious Roden Crater in Arizona challenge the limits of human perception on a grand scale.
    Arguably the renowned American artist’s most significant contribution has been the innumerable “Skyspace” installations he’s conceived and realized throughout the world. Whether carved out of a museum’s architectural volume—like New York’s MoMA PS1—or staged as a pavilion, these enclosed environments all feature open roofs carefully framing the heavens above. Visitors are invited to enter and sit for a while to experience changes in color and cosmic movement. The meditative process helps them find grounding and reconnect with nature in unexpected ways.
    Conceived with the technical expertise of architecture practice A-Works, Hardanger Skyspace is the 82nd iteration of its kind. The monolithic pavilion was commissioned by the village of Øystese, nearby Kunsthuset Kabuso, and Voss Folk Museum to sit in a park along the Hardanger Fjord and Hardangervidda mountain plateau. The northernmost Skyspace to date, this latest installation interacts with acute seasonal fluctuations. Turrell was careful to position the piece so that it could best engage the dramatic setting.
    Exterior of Hardanger Skyspace (2022). Courtesy of A-Works.
    A-Works principal Cristian Stefanescu played an integral role in designing the permanent structure, achieving the artist’s mission while also reflecting various contextual touchpoints. A specific strain of slate sourced in the region was selected to evoke the shiplap siding of a nearby church. From a distance, Turrell’s sculpture of sorts resembles this building but, on closer inspection, proportions skew and the work emerges as a much taller stacked-stone totem. Choosing the right coloration was essential to creating this illusion. 
    “The whole work of art functions as a precise perception of light as a physical presence,” explained Stefanescu. The devil was in the details as he and Turrell envisioned a space that not only outlines the sky but also takes on specific material and formal qualities itself. Measured down to the millimeter, prefabricated concrete components were meticulously fitted into place. These considerations were vital to the overall concept.
    The construction of Hardanger Skyspace. Courtesy of A-Works.
    “The poetic is often known as a bohemian idea, something that just comes to you. I reject this idea,” added Stefanescu. “Something that is precise but appears imprecise involves a high degree of precision and knowledge of technical processes, pigmentation, prototyping, and art of thinking. Creating atmosphere is a ‘hard-core’ technical knowledge.”
    The octagonal enclosure can only be entered through a door that becomes apparent once visitors have reached the end of a dedicated pathway. An unexpected white oval-shaped interior shuts off from the immediate surroundings. Curved benches blend in seamlessly with the cast concrete walls to accentuate the contours of the aperture above. As Hardanger Skyspace gains purpose through activation, the shifting patterns of natural light are brought to the fore.
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    in Exhibitions

    The Home of Ronald Lauder, Along With Its Vast Private Art Holdings, Has Been Faithfully Reproduced Inside the Neue Galerie

    What’s it like seeing Gustav Klimt’s iconic Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer in person? For many, the answer exists only in their imagination. However, from November 11, 2022, through February 13, 2023, philanthropist Ronald Lauder is giving the public that very opportunity with a showing of his personal collection as it appears in his home—that is, an exact reproduction of his private residence within the Neue Galerie New York.
    The show, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the museum’s founding, is the first time in a decade that a comprehensive look at the Ronald S. Lauder Collection has been publicly available. Comprising Greco-Roman sculptures from the third century B.C.E. through German and Austrian art from the 20th century, it is one of the world’s greatest private art holdings.
    It’s also, apparently, caused something of a stir because the Gilded Age mansion where it resides was not built with a freight elevator. The Neue Galerie had to hoist numerous larger pieces through its windows. Suffice it to say, onlookers have been rapt the past few weeks watching Renaissance gold-ground paintings, medieval suits of armor, and other remarkable treasures pass into the museum’s upper stories.
    And yet more startling, when viewed in person, is how so many of these stunning works have been arranged to create a home. More than museum curation, the show—with its astute attention to detail—imposes none of the stuffiness one might expect from having so many classic works under one roof. Instead, it feels relaxed, like visiting a friend whose life has been dedicated to celebrating the arts. In this way, it sheds the pretensions of displaying art in favor of experiencing it. It’s a feeling Lauder enjoys, we must imagine, on a daily basis—and one we hope the following collection highlights convey.
    Monumental Head of a Goddess, Greek, Hellenistic, ca. mid-second century B.C.E., marble. Private Collection. Photo: Hulya Kolabas.
    This Hellenistic, marble head (ca. 150 B.C.E.) is intriguing both for its mute, piercing gaze and its position on Lauder’s desk. “This is the one time that he decided to make his private rooms available to the public—and given the scope of the project, it will likely never happen again,” Neue Galerie Director Renée Price told Artnet News. “The works selected for the exhibition were chosen by Mr. Lauder himself, and arranged at the Neue Galerie in a manner that reflects how they are displayed in his home. The presentation demonstrates a unique, private taste—a vision.”
    Installation view of “The Ronald S. Lauder Collection” on view at Neue Galerie New York. Photo: Hulya Kolabas, courtesy of Neue Galerie New York.
    Containing the world’s premier assembly of works by Gustav Klimt, Lauder’s collection of early 20th-century Austrian art is replete with works visitors will recognize instantly. In a video produced to introduce the show, Lauder says he has three classifications of art: “Oh,” “Oh my,” and “Oh my God!”—and he only collects the last of these. As a result, he says, “It is impossible for me to choose a favorite work from my collection. When I love an artwork and decide to acquire it, I don’t fall out of love with it. I just get to know it better.”
    Jug, Italian (ca. 1600). Rock crystal, gold, enamel. Private Collection. Photo courtesy of Neue Galerie New York.
    Central to the Neue’s reproduction of Lauder’s private office is his impressive white-marble statue of Hermes (second century C.E.), Roman messenger of the gods, as well as his magnificent collection of exotic and exceptional objects, dating from the 15th through the 18th centuries. To properly display the precious decorative objects, Lauder thoughtfully designed a Kunstkammer (art cabinet) for his residence, which is replicated at the show. In discussing how the museum faithfully reconstructed the interiors, Price commented, “The process of developing the exhibition was a collaborative effort between Mr. Lauder, his curatorial team led by Elizabeth Szancer, and the Neue Galerie team. Discussions began long ago, with many Zoom calls, discussing and rearranging floor plans. Then the heavy lifting, which involved getting permits to hoist large-scale works into our historic building, and install the works on-site. The final result is a testament to the dedication of a great team of people.”
    Installation view of “The Ronald S. Lauder Collection” on view at Neue Galerie New York. Photo: Hulya Kolabas, courtesy of Neue Galerie New York.
    Numerous works in the Neue exhibition exemplify how Lauder’s personal taste goes into the selection of everything he collects, such as this painting by lesser-known German expressionist Conrad Felixmüller, My Brother–Mining Engineer (1922). Commenting on his process, Lauder told Artnet News, “Art collecting for me is a passion. It’s about what speaks to me on a personal level. It never has been about the market, or the need to collect (or to avoid collecting) what others do. It doesn’t take great connoisseurship to buy a world-famous Picasso. It only takes money.”
    Erich Heckel (1883–1970), Bathers in a Pond (1908). Oil on canvas. Private Collection. Photo courtesy of Neue Galerie New York.
    Commenting on a reproduction of the mantelpiece—over which hangs one of the first works Lauder acquired, Erich Heckel’s Bathers in a Pond (1908)—Price said, “At the Neue Galerie, we are always thinking about the Gesamtkunstwerk—or total work of art. The experience of visiting our museum is all-encompassing for the senses: a view of the galleries that present fine art and design at an intimate scale, a taste of the Austrian cuisine in Café Sabarsky, a tactile moment in the design shop and bookstore. While our mission is focused on Austrian and German art from the early 20th century, this exhibition is placing what we do here in a much broader context. The underlying principle is the Gesamtkunstwerk, everything together, of the highest quality. That is the philosophy of the Neue Galerie, and the Lauder Collection is so exemplary of that philosophy.”
    Bernardo Daddi (Italian, active ca. 1312/20), Madonna and Child with Four Angels (1348), Florence. Tempera and gold on panel. Private Collection.
    In a wider sense, the Neue’s exhibition presents a unique accretion of histories, not only of Lauder’s as a collector and of what the works depict, but of each piece’s provenance—many were stolen by Nazi authorities and recovered after World War II—and art history itself. According to Lauder, “The exhibition reflects the evolution of my collecting interests over the course of the past decade, as highlights from my collection were first presented at the Neue Galerie for the museum’s 10th anniversary. Over the past ten years, I became interested in new areas, including antiquities and gold ground paintings, rekindled my interests in Old Masters, and deepened existing areas of my collection.”
    Installation view of “The Ronald S. Lauder Collection” on view at Neue Galerie New York. Photo: Hulya Kolabas, courtesy of Neue Galerie New York.
    In addition to magnificent works of art, the show also features a room dedicated to Lauder’s remarkable collection of medieval armor and weapons. “In every era, there are great artists,” Lauder explained to Artnet News. “The thread of excellence of the great masters runs through the centuries, from ancient Greek and Roman art to Medieval Art, from gold-ground paintings of the early Renaissance to Old Master paintings and Kunstkammer objects of the 15th to the 18th century, through to the early 20th century Austrian and German art and decorations. Most early works do not have the artist’s identity but even without their names, they are of great quality. I have always been fascinated by masterworks throughout the centuries.”
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    in Street Art

    John Fekner – Detective Show – Bio Editions Book Release

    The latest release from UK publishing house Bio Editions is a photography book from John Fekner, entitled ‘Detective Show’. Featuring a foreword by legendary art critic, Carlo McCormick, the title explores the formative steps of street-art-as-installation, transporting readers back to 1970s Queens, New York, and shining a light on an era of authentic, artistic freedom.Detective Show maps the conception and creation of a strikingly unique outdoor urban art event organised in 1978, spanning the breadth of an unloved park in Jackson Heights, Queens, NYC. Contributors included Fekner himself, Don Leicht, and numerous acclaimed artists, including Richard Artschwager and Gordon Matta-Clark.Fekner ultimately decided to invite those he shared studio space with in the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center to join him in hiding works across the park, including Richard Artschwager, Gordon Matta-Clark, Len Bellinger, Don Leicht, Frances Hynes, Claudia DeMonte and Karen Shaw among others.Envisioned as a ‘beyond the visible’ hide-and-seek art game of sorts, with visitors given clues and urged to seek out the works strewn across the concrete expanses or even hidden among the trees, Fekner’s objective was simply to create thoughtful interaction with surroundings through art, to the benefit of the public, young and old alike. The end result, he hoped, would provide what he thought of as ‘the magic of discovery by happenstance’.Careful to ensure that the painted and sculpted contributions worked in harmony with the space, Fekner notes he “had to place some restrictions on the artists – no monumental stuff that might disturb the park.”Interspersed between photographs documenting the scope and joy of the show, artists fondly recall a period of artistic freedom that felt unencumbered by the trappings of commercial art.“It’s hard to remember what an exciting and different time 1978 was in the art world. It was pre-PR machines, hype, mega-money, business plans,” notes DeMonte.“For a few weeks in the spring of 1978, about two hundred kids were exposed to original artwork in their own backyard, by some of the most renowned artists of the day,” adds Dave Santaniello, “and that experience changed their perception of their environment forever.”Fekner himself was particularly pleased by the low-key nature of the show’s impact: “The Detective Show was quite unlike current street art festivals with their spectacular large murals, bright colours and street fair atmosphere.“The show was quiet and removed; distanced from the usual New York art world locations and audiences. Extremely low key, it was a temporary art installation about subtlety, nuance, and the magic of discovery by happenstance.”Many of the artists involved in the show have since gone on to become revered names within the contemporary art world, some were renowned before they took part, and others went on to teach, or lead ‘ordinary’ lives. This only serves to further act as tribute to a show that was created with solely the art and those who would experience it in mind, a great unifying cause for creators that urged others to look for beauty in hidden places.In notable contrast to today’s large scale mural-style street art festivals, this 84-page book charts an ideologically-pure reinvention of the urban landscape for the benefit of all, made without corporate sponsorship or underlying motives.Like the show itself, the book – which includes numerous lovingly-printed photographs documenting the event, flyers, newspaper clippings & other ephemera, and written recollections by many of the artists themselves – is a love letter to the innovation of art within public spaces.Two editions of the book, including those featuring limited-edition prints, will be available from 5pm on 1st December 2022.In addition to the first Edition of 450, Bio will also release a special edition of 78, signed by John Fekner. These are sold along with a limited edition gicleé print with silkscreen varnish, signed and numbered by the artist.Detective Show will be available to order via Bio Editions’ website. Photography courtesy John Fekner / Bio Editionswww.bioeditions.com More

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    in Exhibitions

    Beeple’s Hybrid Sculpture ‘Human One’ Is Due to Land in Hong Kong’s M+ Museum, Marking the Work’s Asian Premiere

    On the heels of it inclusion in an exhibition at Castello di Rivoli in Italy earlier this year, Beeple’s first hybrid sculpture, Human One, will now make its way to M+ Museum in Hong Kong, heralding the artist’s first solo presentation in a major Asian institution. 
    Human One depicts a helmeted astronaut walking through an ethereal landscape on a four-channel digital video loop, set within a polished aluminum frame and mahogany wood support. The work was purchased as an NFT for more than $28 million by digital art collector Ryan Zurrer at a Christie’s auction in 2021; its physical form will be installed in M+’s Focus Gallery beginning December 9.
    “I am extremely excited and honored to have my work showing in M+,” Beeple said. “I believe artwork like this that is dynamic and has the ability to change meaning over a long period of time shows the true potential for digital art both now and in the future.”
    Beeple rose to prominence on the heels of Everydays: the First 5,000 Days, a collage of images minted as an NFT, which fetched a whopping $69.3 million at auction in March 2021.
    Since then, Beeple has gone on to spearhead a number of new projects and initiatives, including a major studio and physical digital art gallery set to open next year in North Carolina, as well as a recently announced advisory role with Yuga Labs. The latter position comes after the company acquired WENEW, a NFT startup that Beeple co-founded in 2021, which has pursued a number of brand collaborations with the likes of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Playboy.
    The new M+ museum seen across the Hong Kong skyline. Courtesy of M+.
    M+ opened in November 2021 in the West Kowloon Cultural District of Hong Kong, with the core of the museum’s collection coming from the Swiss art collector and former ambassador to China, Uli Sigg. The museum currently houses a number of other works that align heavily with digital art, including Ian Cheng’s generative, A.I-powered work, B.O.B. (Bag of Beliefs) (2018–19), as well as Harun Farocki’s Parallels I-IV (2012–14), a video installation that homages early video game culture. 
    According to Sunny Cheung, the M+ curator responsible for stewarding Beeple’s HUMAN ONE toward the museum, the sculpture conceptually echoes several other core pieces of M+’s collection. 
    He points to RMB City (2009) by Cao Fei, a virtual work that “depicts a land within Second Life, which is for all intents and purposes, an early vision for the metaverse,” he told Artnet News. “Of course, Human One, as an iconic piece of our times, takes on [that] mantle.”

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    in Exhibitions

    A Life-Size Cast of the Titanosaur, the World’s Largest Dinosaur, Is Coming to London’s Natural History Museum. It’ll Be a Tight Squeeze

    It’s going to be a tight squeeze in the National History Museum (NHM) next Spring when the London institution welcomes its biggest star exhibit: the cast of a Titanosaur, one of the largest known dinosaurs.
    “Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur” will see the 122-feet-long Titanosaur installed in the museum’s Waterhouse Gallery, narrowly fitting into the roughly 30-feet-high space. The skeleton cast weighs four times more than Dippy, the Diplodocus replica that occupied the museum’s Hintze Hall from 1905 to 2017, and measures nearly 40 feet longer than Hope, the blue whale skeleton that replaced Dippy.
    “Comparable in weight to more than nine African elephants, this star specimen will inspire visitors to care for some of the planet’s largest and most vulnerable creatures, which face similar challenges for survival,” said Paul Barrett, science lead on the exhibition, in a statement, “and show that within the Earth’s ecosystems, size really does matter.”
    The Patagotitan skull. Photo courtesy of MEF.
    Titanosaurs were a class of sauropod dinosaurs, recognizable for their long necks and tails, that lived during the late Cretaceous period, more than 66 million years ago. The specimen going on view at the NHM is based on remains discovered by a rancher in the region of Patagonia, Argentina, and excavated by a team from the Egidio Feruglio Paleontological Museum (MEF) in 2014. 
    In 2017, the find was christened the Patagotitan mayorum, a name inspired by the region where its bones were found as much as its size. Since then, a replica of the skeleton—the most complete Titanosaur ever discovered—has gone on view at the Field Museum in Chicago and the American Natural History Museum in New York. 
    The Patagotitan mayorum on view at the American Natural History Museum. Photo courtesy of NHM.
    At the NHM, the Titanosaur, on loan from MEF, will be accompanied by artistic renderings depicting Cretaceous-era flora and fauna, and the lifespan of the dinosaur. The exhibition will also include interactive and educational materials, inviting visitors to handle a cast of the Titanosaur’s skull, while urging reflection on what can be done to protect existing colossal animals amid a climate emergency.
    “Our fascination with dinosaurs provides the ideal opportunity to inspire and inform the next generation about the natural world,” said Alex Burch, the NHM’s Director of Public Programmes, “and empower them to act for the planet.”
    “Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur” will go on view from March 31, 2023–January 7, 2024 at the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London.

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    in Exhibitions

    11 Must-See Museum Shows During Art Basel Miami Beach, From a Didier William Retrospective to the First U.S. Exhibition of Michel Majerus

    Art week in Miami is always a scene, with collectors, artists, and gallerists descending on the city for a few days. But, there is a wealth of art to see beyond the tents. Here are 11 institutional shows you don’t want to miss.

    1. “Leandro Erlich: Liminal” at the Pérez Art Museum Miami
    Leandro Erlich, Swimming Pool (1999). Installation view: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan, 2004. Photo: © Noriko Inomoto.

    Leandro Erlich—the artist who made a big pre-pandemic splash at Art Basel in 2019 with his sand-covered sculptures of 66 cars and trucks, depicting a Miami traffic jam and installed on an actual beach—is back in Miami with a show that marks the first monographic survey of his work in North America. The exhibition was selected and arranged by New York-based guest curator Dan Cameron, and will present 16 works that span more than two decades of Erlich’s production. The Buenos Aires-born artist has represented Argentina in the Venice Biennale and appeared in the Whitney Biennial.

    PAMM is located at 1103 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami.

    2. “Alexandre Diop: 2022 Artist-in-Residence” at the Rubell Museum
    Alexandre Diop, Honi soit qui mal y pense (Shame be (tohim) who thinks evil of it) (2022). Courtesy of the Rubell Museum.
    It’s no secret that Don and Mera Rubell have the Midas touch. The residency program at the couple’s Miami-based museum is a serious coup for any young artist, and it’s no exception for Alexandre Diop. The Senegalese-Franco artist uses everyday found materials in the spirit of Arte Povera to lend his portraits a textural complexity.
    The Rubell Museum is located at 1100 NW 23 Street, Miami.

    3. “In the Mind’s Eye: Landscapes of Cuba” at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum More

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    in Exhibitions

    Artist Marco Fusinato on What It’s Like to Play a Punk Gig at the Venice Biennale for 200 Days Straight

    You could hear the deep droning hum even before the black granite block that housed the Australian pavilion came into view, and feel the vibrations as you approached it in the Giardini at the Venice Biennale. Inside, those who braved it past the threshold were bombarded with a wall of amps, a giant floor-to-ceiling LED screen, a cacophony of black-and-white images, and abrasive Noise-metal and feedback. 
    When I visited the pavilion during the Biennale’s opening in April, the soundscape was so massive, the deluge of images so disorienting, that it was easy to miss the man sitting on a road case, next to the row of amps, with his back to the room. But Marco Fusinato, the artist and musician behind the work DESASTRES, was almost always there—playing a sleek, EGC aluminum guitar and effect pedals every day of the Biennale’s 200-day run. 
    DESASTRES (2022) Solo durational performance as installation 200 days. Installation view, Australia Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale. Photographer: Andrea Rossetti.
    Sometimes the pavilion was full of viewers who succumbed to the meditative qualities this overpowering sensory experience could offer, and sat down to let the work wash over them for hours. And sometimes Fusinato was there alone, playing at deafening volumes as the images on the monumental screen would come and go, washing the pavilion with light, then infusing it with darkness. 
    “It’s very divisive. Either you love it or you hate it. There’s not much in between,” Fusinato told Artnet News during an interview between live music sessions. He was nearly an hour late to our conversation but the energy inside the pavilion was so ecstatic that he told us he had lost track of time. The improvised sound emanating from the amps triggered an AI system that spat out images from the artist’s personal archive and at that point, it was “just right,” he said, so he “went down that path.”
    The interplay of the sound with the technology that randomized the images—what Fusinato calls the “Score”—and the energy inside the space was never the same. “I’m always searching for something that I can’t quantify; it’s a feeling. And then you might find it and you sit on it for a while. It can take you places,” he said.
    A Punk Gig Without a Stage 
    The 59th Venice Biennale came to a close on November 27, and it is often the case that national pavilions schedule live performances, talks, or other public-engagement programs during the final week, as La Serenissima once again fills with art professionals and visitors rushing to view one of the artworld’s most important exhibitions before it closes. But Fusinato had been putting on a unique live event day-in-and-day-out for seven months, at times conjuring a high-intensity concentration of raw energy that is nothing short of life affirming. 
    And that, in spite of the fact that DESASTRES, which evokes Francisco Goya’s suite of etchings Los Desastres de la Guerra (1810-20), doesn’t exactly uplift. The images in Fusinato’s archive, amassed during Australia’s long lockdowns, are as discordant as his doom and death metal references. They range from found news images of civil protests, war, and manmade disasters, to historical illustrations of torture and bloodletting, among many other motifs, some less identifiable. 
    “DESASTRES is a monster,” Alexie Glass-Kantor, the pavilion’s curator, said in her opening address. “A banquet of images that range from the benign to the blatant, absurd, twisted, sublime, bone-crushing, and tense.” 
    The images’ sequence and combinations might have been confounding, but they clearly speak of our endless capacity for violence and destruction. And in the 200-days since Fusinato first switched on the amps, disasters and war continued to rage around the world, their digital images popping up on our personal screens. 
    DESASTRES (2022). Solo durational performance as installation 200 days. Installation view, Australia Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale.Photographer: Andrea Rossetti.
    The audience could walk around the amps and LED monitor, cables and wires exposed, and get behind the huge screen, where the connections between the panels flickered in a hypnotizing sequence of red and green. The only other element of color in the space was a small 400-year-old painting of a decapitated head placed neatly on a red book. The artist found this memento mori at auction while searching for images online and felt compelled to buy it. It was the pavilion’s “mascot” as he put it, and he moved it around in the space every day. 
    For Fusinato, the work’s openness allowed visitors to bring their own experiences into it. “There are many elements coming together here: the aesthetics of noise, music and time, underground subgenres, extreme music, and decayed imagery,” he said. “Some people may have never experienced volume at this level or that kind of noise concert, which has a very particular aesthetic and philosophical code.” But whether a viewer could recognize such codes is secondary to its cathartic effect, he pointed out. “It’s an attitude.” 
    Some found this collusion of the elements of spectacle confusing, and would get too close to the artist. “They treat me like a marble sculpture! I have to tell them to fuck off,” he said. 
    “It’s a bit like a punk gig and, essentially, when they walk into the pavilion they’re walking onto a stage, but in this context, it’s really like we’re all on the same platform, so that’s been something to constantly negotiate,” he added. 
    A Sharper Focus
    Born in Melbourne in 1964, Fusinato’s roots are here in the Veneto region, where his parents emigrated from, and he considers the steadily disappearing local dialect of the Belluno province his first language. “I’m here representing Australia, but I also have an Italian passport and I feel like I don’t belong in either. I’m here making work. I can’t take on the baggage and absurdity of any form of nationalism,” he said. 
    During the long months in the Giardini, as audiences came and went and a new far-right Italian government came to power, Fusinato found a community in the guards, cleaners, and invigilators—the workers meant to go unnoticed. “I really wanted to create that kind of environment that’s welcoming and in the same spirit as the work,” he said. (It also helps that the Australian pavilion is one of the few with a kitchen and bathroom.) 
    Clocking in eight hours a day in the pavilion proved to be a unique luxury that brought certain things into focus. “It’s been very much about labor and occupying space. What’s been eliminated is administration, Zoom meetings, and all this kind of stuff that so much of our time is given over to. It’s been so liberating to prioritize that instead of all that other kind of drag,” he said.
    Fusinato didn’t want to abandon this feeling and let this emphasis fade away when the pavilion closed and life went on. He is making plans to funnel the electrifying impressions that he had accumulated in the past months into a live situation for a large audience. “This project originally began with a drummer who plays in death metal grindcore bands,” he explained, but the idea that the drumming would trigger the images was abandoned along the way. 
    Now, Fusinato is thinking of pursuing it in a future show or music gig. But the intimacy inside the space and the intensity of the moments in which Fusinato’s guitar fed on the audience’s palpable energy will remain a unique experience, like a legendary concert. You were either there or you weren’t.
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