Postmonument
Views of the exhibition. All works by Bunga. ⓒ Carlos Bunga.
XIV International Sculpture Biennale of Carrara
The theme for this edition was the monument, or rather that radical process of de-monumentalisation which has freed sculpture from any celebratory, encomiastic function. The monument has been an emblem of power, the tool of mass homologation, a catalyst of patriotic values and a building-block in the construction of collective memory. It became a fundamental target of revolts and revolutions, and was then eliminated with the application of the ideals of democracy and freedom.
However, old values and materials can sometimes re-emerge, making it possible for us to once again identify ourselves with monuments.
The town of Carrara, whose history is linked to both marble quarrying and processing, is at present suffering from the loss of centrality of this raw material in the art world. The local context thus became a mirror of those cracks in the production system of the whole western world, and the contact with this real situation provided inspiration for the artists invited.
The choice of the locations, old sculpture laboratories and other abandoned buildings in the centre of town, where the signs of time and neglect are evident, immersed the audience further in that dimension of disorientation, which is a leitmotif of the whole exhibition.
Bunga presented a site-specific work accompanied by several of his cardboard objects which, through their materiality, refer to his architectural structures.
WORKS
View of the site-specific. © Carlos Bunga.
Bunga’s exhibited objects. © Carlos Bunga.
Curator: Fabio Cavallucci
2010. Carrara, Italy.
