ART-PRESENTATION: Due South
“Due South” is the second project in a quartet of island-based explorations curated by Marianne Bernstein. Focused on the island of Sicily the project explores issues inherent to the unique position of Sicily: migration, climate change, agriculture and more. Conceived of as an interdisciplinary conversation, the exhibition features multimedia and collaborative community projects.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Delaware Contemporary Archive
“Due South” is an artistic exchange focused on Sicily encouraging global dialogue in a moment of heightened isolationism and xenophobia. Over the course of the past three years, 36 artists have traveled between the U.S. and Italy to collaborate and create works in response to the rich history, culture, and environment of Sicily. By examining the island from both inside and out, the artists have created both intimate personal reflections and works suggesting that we all are foreigners somewhere. The recent refugee crisis has made many fearful of the mobility of foreign bodies, ideas, and cultures. As Marianne Bernstein the Curator of the project says ”Participating artists were committed to making work in the social sphere and through interactions with communities and histories unique to Sicily. Important to this exploration are the difficult integration of a rich past and an ever-infiltrating technological present, extremes in history and weather, and the contradictions between a seductive landscape and its inherent Mediterranean challenges”. Among the works Marinella Senatore presents “Nui Simu”, a video featuring a collaborative community performance organized by thirty miners in the town of Enna. Petra Noordkamp’s poetic short film “Il Grande Cretto di Gibellina”, was created inside a land art work by Alberto Burri. Flavio Favelli completed a residency at The Delaware Contemporary to create a new large-scale sculptural/architectural work. New works by egional artists are also have been made for the exhibition. Painter, ceramicist Jane Irish was invited into various palazzos throughout Sicily to paint on site. David Kessler created a new video work about the medieval hilltop town Tusa. Andrea Modica is exhibiting work from Sicily and working collaboratively with Francesco Nonino on a project photographing plants from a radioactive military crash site in Lentini (Catania). Serena Perrone has created a mporcelain peep show reflecting upon the polarizing traits of Tusa, the medieval hilltop town of her youth. Participating Artists: Gabriele Abbruzzese, Federico Baronello, Letizia Battaglia, Marianne Bernstein, Giuseppe Buzzotta, Glauco Canalis, Gabriella Ciancimino, Massimo Cristaldi, Cindi Ettinger, Flavio Favelli, Benoit Felici, lice Guareschi, John Broderick Heron, Andrea Hornick, Carlo & Fabio Ingrassia, Jane Irish, Kelsey Halliday Johnson, Isaac Julien, David Scott Kessler, Zya Levy, Filippo Leonardi, Loredana Longo, Matthew Mazzotta & Sujin Lim, Andrea Modica, Liliana Moro, Ignazio Mortellaro, Francesco Nonino, Petra Noordkamp, Serena Perrone, Cristina La Rocca, Marinella Senatore, Alex Tyson, Lisa Wade, Midge Wattles, Steven Earl Weber and Massimo Vitali
Info: Curator: Marianne Bernstein, The Delaware Contemporary, 200 South Madison Street, Wilmington, Duration: 28/1-30/4/17, Days & Hours: Tue & Sun 12:00-17:00, Wed 12:00-19:00, Thu-Sat 10:00-17:00, www.decontemporary.org