Monika Bravo at Ciocca Arte Contemporanea

Monika Bravo at Ciocca Arte Contemporanea

Ciocca Arte Contemporanea

February 14, 2003

Monika Bravo
A Maze

20/02/2003 - 12/03/2003

Ciocca Arte Contemporanea
via Del Lauro 8 – 20121
Milano – Italia
tel. +39-02.86.46.31.67
fax +39-02.85.91.07.66
marco@rossanaciocca.it

www.sololab.com

A_Maze, 2001, installation view @SITE Santafe

ITINERARIES

Opening: Thursday February 20, at 6:30 pm

Ciocca Arte Contemporanea in Milan is pleased to announce the opening of
ITINERARIES, a solo exhibition of recent work by New York-based
Colombian artist Monika Bravo. The show consists of the interactive video
installation A_Maze and two single channel videos Liquify and Wind-eye.

Sitting mutely, it is a quiet room, with a floor piece covering most of
the space and two projectors with mirrors standing pat. At its core is
a DVD based suite of images and sound-by the DJ collective Flora &
Fauna-activated by walking on the sensitized sculptural mat. As its
title implies, A_Maze revolves around a viewer activated video/sound
installation that was configured to resemble a labyrinth, which maybe
one of the most recognizable Borgesean tropes. The labyrinth, for Borges,
was a multifaceted metaphor that was a formal device as it was an occasional
leitmotif. Bravo seems to understand this quite well in that the Borges
poem is inscribed on a giant square in a labyrinth-like schema that
triggers a series of video sequences of landscapes and a host of other
imagery filmed around the world: one moment we are in Manhattan, in a
blink of an eye we are in Milan, Vietnam, Thailand, Tokyo, etc.

Liquify, is an elegant and thoughtful work, flat geometric forms, like
rectangles and bars, mingle with ease among organic references to nature
and atmosphere. Although each element seems to move individually, the
subtle modulations of shifting arrangements unifies the imagery into a
lovely balance of changing line, shape, color and mood. The adept fusion
of abstract surfaces with literal glimpses of nature allows for a
well-ordered, harmonious pictorial surface.

Bravo, in filming her video Wind-eye, was confronted with exactly this
dilemma: how to disrupt the rigid verticality of Time’s
Square’s woefully commercial skyscrapers, without falling into the fashionable incoherence
of architecture as entropic ruin. Bravo’s response in Wind-eye is
to organize the footage she shot into a series of amped-up split screens,
jarring mosaics, and revolving kaleidoscopes. Each cut is seamlessly
synched to the beat of an urgent, synthesized piano soundtrack. In its
almost frantic, delirious pacing, in Wind-eye, Bravo is focused on —
not just the immediacy of a given place — but the simultaneity of Times
Square’s tidal wave of sense-data into a personal, flickering
moment.

Advertisement
RSVP
RSVP for Monika Bravo at Ciocca Arte Contemporanea
Ciocca Arte Contemporanea
February 14, 2003

Thank you for your RSVP.

Ciocca Arte Contemporanea will be in touch.

Subscribe

e-flux announcements are emailed press releases for art exhibitions from all over the world.

Agenda delivers news from galleries, art spaces, and publications, while Criticism publishes reviews of exhibitions and books.

Architecture announcements cover current architecture and design projects, symposia, exhibitions, and publications from all over the world.

Film announcements are newsletters about screenings, film festivals, and exhibitions of moving image.

Education announces academic employment opportunities, calls for applications, symposia, publications, exhibitions, and educational programs.

Sign up to receive information about events organized by e-flux at e-flux Screening Room, Bar Laika, or elsewhere.

I have read e-flux’s privacy policy and agree that e-flux may send me announcements to the email address entered above and that my data will be processed for this purpose in accordance with e-flux’s privacy policy*

Thank you for your interest in e-flux. Check your inbox to confirm your subscription.