Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale 2015

 

between 13 November 2015 and 7 January 2016

Cathedral Museum, Mdina (Malta)

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Good Bye Mother | Air Shapes develops further Calì ‘s research around themes like the invisible, borders, identity and territory.

The series finds its origins in Calì’s  Guazza , a “digital performance”1 and video. Interested in the relationship between landscape and human presence, in Guazza, Calì responded to the lyrical, iconic presence of an Italian flag flapping in the breeze on a lakeshore. Beyond the flag’ geopolitical significance as expression of a specific people, of a given cultural identity, with its possible conflictual connotations, Calì sought a different opportunity.

As the water in the lake and everything around him moved, he stayed motionless, in a still journey towards his own identity as well as an affirmation of the artist ‘determination to be part of the world, of that moment in time.

Later, going to Malta within a personal and artistic quest, Calì kept an object of particular significance to him, the handkerchief his mother gave him before dying.

He realized that the flag ‘movement in the wind, just as the handkerchief’s held in the breeze, gave shape to air, air that by definition does not have form, cannot be touched or seen. The viewer is similarly invited to unknown destinations of thought and understanding.

Giving shape to air, make way to manifest the invisible: this is Calì’s territory; this is the fundamental effort of Cali’s art.

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renata summo o'connell, artegiro contemporary art, curator

 

1 Calì sees his art as a digital performance (read artist’s presentation for more information about his practice) ; for Guazza: see https://vimeo.com/64623545

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see the official page of Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale 2015