Gabriella Mangano and Silvana Mangano
Visible Structures
29 November 2014–15 March 2015
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
30 The Octagon
Dunedin 9016
New Zealand
Gabriella Mangano and Silvana Mangano are well known for their collaborative and performative video practice. The interrelationship between their bodies, objects, time and space are tested and investigated through a series of rhythmic and unchoreographed movements. There is a direct influence from the handmade or found sculptural objects that feature in their works to the final movements and actions produced. However, this relationship is not heavily emphasised; rather elements of form, structure, sound and space are of primary significance.
Visible Structures is their highly anticipated new work that was generated during a six-week residency at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. The unknown environments and a strong sense of location played a significant role in the creation of this work. Here, a rental car became their studio, hitting the road early in the morning and returning home late at night—a map and the road markers guiding their path. When discussing the residency Gabriella and Silvana said, “Within a studio space you shift objects around playing with configurations in space, the car allowed the shifting of landscapes which gave us different perspectives depending on time of day, weather and direction of driving…we wanted to use the environment as a readymade, a space where actions take on instructions from the surrounding features and materiality of the landscape.”
Visible Structures, filmed at various locations in the Otago region, utilises abandoned forms and ambiguous landscapes to draw audiences into their visual choreography. Their complex sequences are projected onto five free-standing screens, of two distinct sizes, that surround the audience and allow for navigation. Each projection provides viewers with a different perspective within the landscape. The addition of a mirror, which has been employed in previous works, is used as a tool to alter reality while also acting as an introduced sculptural form. The mirrored surface provides two viewpoints: the camera’s view and the view from the performer’s angle. The use of white tape and the artists’ bodies, with faces hidden, are also used to highlight elements and patterns in the landscapes, both functioning as tools to reveal shape and form within the composition.
Gabriella and Silvana currently live and work in Melbourne, Australia. They have been part of the 2014 Visiting Artist Programme at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand.
Selected solo exhibitions include Hidden Spaces, Ready Stages, 2013, The Arts Centre, Melbourne; Shapes for Open Spaces, 2011, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne; Neon, 2010, Studio 12, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne: If…so…then…, 2008, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Western Australia and 2007, Centre of Contemporary Photography, Melbourne. Selected group exhibitions include Whisper in my Mask, Tarrawarra Biennial 2014; IMPACT, 2014, Art Gallery of Western Australia; Shifting Lines, 2013–14, Christchurch Art Gallery Outer Spaces, New Zealand; all our relations, 18th Biennale of Sydney, 2012, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Identity VIII, 2012, nichido contemporary art, Tokyo; Short Sharp Shocks, 2011, Barbican, London; and 21st Century: Art in the First Decade, 2010, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia. In 2013–2014 Gabriella and Silvana completed a residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Programme (ISCP), New York. Gabriella and Silvana are represented by Ann Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.
The Dunedin Public Art Gallery has been operating the Visiting Artist Programme since 1994 with the support of Creative New Zealand. One of the longest standing short-term visual artist residency programmes in New Zealand, it has produced stunning projects by a number of highly regarded artists including Peter Robinson, Spencer Finch, Judy Millar, Simon Denny, Nina Katchadourian, Alicia Frankovich, Dane Mitchell, Fiona Connor and Steve Carr.
