Foundations
2019. Inkjet on clear film and plexiglass, metal structure, mirror film.
This work reflects on the aesthetics and history of conceptual art concerning social fields and social complexity. The artwork itself formulates an aesthetics identified by Cirio and takes the form of a visual essay articulated with abstract flowcharts. Informed by systems, cybernetics, and communication theories,
Foundations aims to trace both the history and character of art that examines social fields as information structures, reckoning with today’s complexity in the age of algorithms, big data, and the Internet.
Foundations consists of a series of sixteen prints, creating a network of associations with paired words to delineate the aesthetics theorized by Cirio. The prints of abstract flowcharts with terms and geometrical shapes illustrate relations, taxonomies, and archetypes of aesthetic qualities, materials, and functions. One additional print charts a timeline of seminal conceptual art history, situating Cirio’s research in a curated selection of historical artworks, publications, and exhibitions to complement his aesthetics theory.
Foundations focuses on the ontologies of conceptual art examining social fields, rather than the making of images, forms, or gestures driven by ideas. It reflects on the genesis of the growing intersections among the domains of art, economics, politics, law, sociology, media, and technology.
Selected shows and presentations history
Information Critique, exhibition at PAN Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, 2020, Naples - Italy
Systems of Systems, exhibition at Giorgio Persano Gallery, 2019, Turin - Italy
| Installation of the artwork Foundations |
| Large-scale installation of the artwork Foundations |
| The artwork Foundations is also presented as a maze-like installation with large-scale prints on clear and mirror film. A metal structure supports prints of abstract geometric diagrams with printed words on thin films. This sculptural installation evokes the sensation of being inside a network of aesthetic values. The paths and mirroring create a multi-dimensional and non-linear flowchart that the audience can experience and explore. The mirrored interior surface beneath the prints distorts and gives depth to the images. As an immersive sculptural flowchart, the installation Foundations creates endless paths that allegorically refer to the fragmented form of networks and generative algorithms. The audience is offered the visual perspective of being transported into the flows, dynamics, and tensions found within networks and flowcharts. Ultimately, the labyrinth of pathways refers to the aesthetic theory of the artwork Foundations, seen as a network of interlinked relationships programmed to create work-in-progress flows and connections among aesthetic values. |
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