Runo Lagomarsino: The G in Modernity Stands for Ghosts
-
-
RUNO LAGOMARSINO
THE G IN MODERNITY STANDS FOR GHOSTSJanuary 19 – March 2, 2013
MELLEMRUMMET, NY CARLSBERGVEJ 68, COPENHAGENWe are pleased to present the video The G in Modernity Stands for Ghosts by Runo Lagomarsino in our exhibition space, Mellemrummet.
In The G in Modernity Stands for Ghosts (2009), crumpled pieces of paper in a small cardboard box are lit with a match. The balls of paper are blank, undiscovered areas that Lagomarsino has cut out of an atlas. The film ends with them carbonizing completely, but, shown as a loop, the action of the burning begins again. The sequence shows a symbolic act of destruction but also of return: the small box becomes an open coffin that holds the terrae incognitae of the world, which are repeatedly ignited anew. The image of smoke and fire is also connected with the manifestations of ghosts, as the title of the film suggests.
Lagomarsino’s practice is focused on the different processes that shape the contemporary political and social environment - as well as this he questions the images and metaphors that contribute to our understanding of history and contemporary society. Lagomarsino takes a critical look at different constructions of history. His point of departure is often to re-contextualize found or acquired objects, all objects that somehow connote heritage, identity, colonial relations, national borders and their construction.
The simple and subtle gesture of burning the crumpled pieces of paper, as seen in The G in Modernity Stands for Ghosts, Lagomarsino manages to include these different symbols an meanings as above mentioned.
The work Otherwhere by Lagomarsino has, since the exhibition in the gallery in 2011, been shown at The 30th Sao Paulo Biennale - The Imminence of Poetics 2012. Furthermore the work has been selected along with other works from the Biennale to appear in an exhibition at Palácio das Artes in Belo Horizonte, Brazil from 13th January 2013. From 10th May 2013 the work will again come to Europe to be shown in the For No Apparent Reason exhibition at CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in Madrid, Spain.
Runo Lagomarsino’s latest exhibitions include; The Liverpool Biennale 2012, The Sao Paulo Biennale 2012, and the exhibition Even Heroes Grow Old at INDEX - The Swedish Art Foundation, 2012, Unfinished Journeys at National Museet for Kunst/Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo. In 2011 he contributed, amongst others, to the Instanbul Biennale and the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
The G in Modernity Stands for Ghosts: Camera & editing by Terje Östling.
-
Installation views
-
-
Works
-
Artist Biography
-
Photo: Krzysztof Zielinski
