25 June – 17 July 2024
Studio Casoli presents E’ solo un film, an exhibition project by Yuri Ancarani in Filicudi. This show marks the first public presentation of a series of photographs, outlining a new chapter in Ancarani’s artistic exploration.
The genesis of this exhibition was born after a series of contemplations that the artist experienced within the gallery last summer. These reflections were particularly inspired by Ugo Mulas’ 1964 photographic sequence, capturing Lucio Fontana during the creation of his Attese paintings. Mulas recognized the centrality of this act in Fontana’s oeuvre and stated: “That canvas showed me that Fontana’s mental action (that took shape practically in an instant, in the gesture of slashing the canvas) was even more complex, and that the concluding gesture revealed only a part of it. When looking at a canvas with holes, as one with slashes, it is easy to imagine Fontana making the slash with a blade or the hole with a punch, but this does not show the action that is more precise, and that is not only an action but a particular moment, a moment that I understood I should have photographed.” (Ugo Mulas, Einaudi Editore, 1973).
Ancarani himself reflects: “Confronted with Mulas’ photographs, I realized that the sequential depiction of Fontana’s action was compelling not for the inherent quality of the photographs, but for the dynamic sense of movement they conveyed.”
The artist delves into the concepts of synthesis and simplification of his work, representing the essence of movement within static images. The photographs are a voyage through the numerous materials produced during the creation of the film Atlantide, which was first shown at the 78th Venice International Film Festival and has since been showcased in several international festivals.
Venice emerges as an island-city in its truest form: secretive, unprecedented, and detached from the typical tourist narrative. Ancarani narrates a lagoon mythology through his clear and evocative images, where movement is perpetual. The artist’s attentive gaze invites us into the realm of adolescence, where the fluidity and suspension of these images reveal an introspective journey and the rites of passage of younger generations.
The exhibition will also feature two unreleased videos, the result of the artist’s extensive documentary work in Venice over recent years, alongside a comprehensive series of screenings.
Yuri Ancarani, born in 1972 in Ravenna, currently lives and works in Milan. His oeuvre is characterized by an innovative and meticulous mixture of documentary cinema and contemporary art. His works have been presented in numerous prestigious exhibitions and museums, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Kunsthalle in Basel, the Centre Pompidou and Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Castello di Rivoli in Turin, Museo del Novecento, PAC and Triennale in Milan. His participation in film festivals includes the Venice Film Festival, Locarno, Rotterdam, Viennale, New Directors/New Films, TIFF Toronto, and SXSW – South by Southwest. Ancarani has received numerous awards, such as the Special Jury Prize at the 69th Locarno Film Festival’s Cl+ Cineasti del presente, and was a finalist for the David di Donatello Award in 2022 for best documentary.
