turf, stones, wood, animal bones, found objects;
Seyðisfjörður
2015
with special thanks to Julia Martin
[testo in Italiano]
The work of Francesco Bertelé develops from the search for an individual relationship with the places in which the artist has lived; places in which the natural dimension has a strong presence and in which he can project his desire for a profound, primary, organic harmony. In an attempt to create this relationship, Bertelé activates connections in time and space, retrieving local tales and myths, unearthing objects and giving rise to different forms of sharing with local figures.
The project Guha realized during the period which the artist spent in Iceland, derive from a reflection in which different themes intersect. One of these themes is that of the artist's studio, intended not only as a material place of production but as a condition for an internal voyage which includes meditation, in-depth study and the re-discovery of both individual and collective memory which, in solitude, emerges more easily from the past. It is a favourable condition for the coming together with the new and with the “other”. “Guha – writes Bertelè – is the inner cavern on the outermost edge of the world, an environmental monument hidden within the bowels of the earth. An invisible refuge for meditating on the nature on which we all depend.”
The exhibition includes a series of drawings, photographs and artefacts; some are objects which have been found; a video; an optical device which, like the drawings, take us back through the history of vision to a kind of antique technology. The whole is realised in a sort of diary.
“The exhibition planned for “ntcm e l'arte” is designed as a narration of the process of isolation and of the search for the void which I experienced during my stay in Iceland. The search for a void to ensure that there is space for imagination in order to obtain decolonization of it. A conceptual synthesis which has been translated into a practical method of day to day meditation. The finished work is invisible to most, hidden at the end of the path which led me there. Only those who desire to embark on this journey will find it, so discovering their own cavern in their heart.
It is for this reason that this exhibition is made up of various elements, all distinguished by a strong diary-like component. Every one of these elements of unstable boundaries is part of that process of hyper-extension(1) which, as it unfolds, composes the work as unfinished, a constellation of personal elements, linked by the only path possible. My experience. Within the elements displayed in this exhibition there is, however, a hidden code which can lead he or she who deciphers it to the exact location of the cavern created in Iceland. But only one person will be able to do this because some of the elements on display must be destroyed in order to continue.
The unique bond which develops between the artistic work and its only true beneficiary means that he or she must embark on a journey towards the work of art, a personal journey rich in experiences and encounters which will perhaps lead him towards a private meditation and his or her personal 'cavern in the heart'. “
Text by Gabi Scardi for the Exhibition “I will sow princess pearls in a cave” at NCTM
(1)“The process of hyperextension is shown to include the artist herself, as increasingly embedded ecological agent.” Julia Martin
Stereoscopy, inkject print on cotton paper
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objects meditation - slideshow (click on the pic)
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objects meditation - inkject print on cotton paper
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THE LETTER
I
started
with
an
idea,
a
far-away,
abstract
idea,
far-away
from
where
I
am
and
far-away
from
my
being
in
this
place.
I
started
with
the
idea
of
creating
a
'cavern
of
the
heart'.
My
cavern
of
the
heart.
It
is
the
place
of
emptiness,
a
void
like
the
absence
and
abandonment
of
self.
Don't
fear
because
emptiness
cannot
be
offended
by
emptiness.
Everything
is
your
illusionary
image,
nothing
truly
exists,
externally,
like
real
objects;
neither
the
gods,
nor
the
demons
nor
the
bull-headed
devil.
The
courage
to
abandon
the
cavern
and
search
for
the
light.
A
light
made
of
memories...
But
I,
a
voracious
consumer
of
places
and
time,
expanding
towards
the
zero
of
each
moment
eroded
after
another,
find
myself
in
a
continual
and
merciless
present.
I
asked
myself
how
I
could
go
back
in
time
and
make
myself
a
shelter.
How
could
I
survive
here?
Like
the
''Man
of the Hole”.
Dig holes
to
be
invisible
to
the
world.
A
world
of
noise.
I
need
the
silence
of
images,
silence
of
the
use
of
the
image.
I
need
to
generate
emptiness,
to
return
to
the
void
before
words.
I
need
to
learn
how
to
construct holes. Holes to
exist
and
appear
only
as
hollows.
But
to
do
this
I
must
train
myself
for
incorruptibility
in
my
every
most
banal
thought.
I
must
estrange
myself
from
the
use
of
imagery.
Look
and
don't
let
yourself
be
distracted!
So
I
try
to
find
edges,
I
focus
myself
on
those
lacerations.
I
remain
adhered
to
the
earth
like
the
roots
of
an
errant
plant
and
I
cling
to
my
daily
life
in
another
place
to
find
my
way
back
home.
I
am
contained
and
container
of
nature.
I
attempt
to
move
with
my
mind
a
rock
considered
sacred
but
in
truth,
nothing
other
than
ballast
for
antique
merchant's
boats.
But
with
what
right
do
you
intrude
into
my
life?
My
journey
here
is
a
journey
within
myself.
It
is
an
esoteric
path
of
isolation
and
loss
of
all
my
certainties.
Think
with
the
body,
with
all
its
harshness,
skin,
flesh,
blood,
bones,
lymph,
breath,
mind.
There
is
nothing
to
gain,
nothing
to
give.
I
demand
the
freezing
of
the
insect
in
the
piece
of
amber,
the
synthesis
of
the
pearl
in
the
shell.
I
am
a
supporter
of
the
human
being
as
an
agent,
'able
to
confer
a
touch
of
splendour
to
death'.
A
forsworn
assassin
once
wrote
that
'regret
is
almost
always
the
fastest
path
towards
imposture'.
Today
I
have
erased
all
I
have
achieved
in
the
last
few
days.
I
have
followed
counsel
of
the
snow.
I
have
let
time
transform
me
and
give
me
its
pearls.
A
stream
of
pearls.
I
observe
the
world
and
have
few
inadequate
words.
In
my
head
I
hear
only
the
uninterrupted
sigh
of
the
wind
which
impedes
my
thoughts,
a
tempest
which
torments
me.
From
here
I
will
take
away
nothing
and
will
leave
the
world
solidified
in
a
clot
of
emptiness.
In
short,
I
had
to
come
this
far,
go
out
one
morning
and
search
for
a
duck's
skull
seen
on
the
beach
a
few
days
before,
to
find
instead
a
perfect
sculpture
which
needed
two
years
of
gestation,
thirty-seven
of
which
were
mere
manipulation
and
modelling.
Wherever
there
is
man
and
spirituality,
there
is
a
cavern
of
the
heart.
kindly supported by ntcm e l'arte
in collaboration with
Exhibition
May 2015, Skaftfell project space, Seyðisfjörður, East Iceland
June 20,2016, NCTM curated by Gabi Scardi- PressRelease
Links
[Thesis] Martin, Julia. 2015. Ecocritical Art in Times of Climate Change: Tracing Ecological Relationships Between Humans and Nonhumans Through the Hyperextension of Objects. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London.
***
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