Elena Mazzi: Silver Rights

In the 21st century we have set for ourselves the challenge
of recovering the land to reclaim our knowledge,
our ideology, philosophy and spirituality...
the art of silversmithing is no exception.
—Mauro Millán, Mapuche spiritual leader and silversmith of the Pillan Mahuiza community

ar/ge kunst presents Silver Rights, a project by Elena Mazzi in dialogue with the Mapuche spiritual leader, silversmith and activist, Mauro Millán and Argentinean artist Eduardo Molinari, curated by Emanuele Guidi and supported by the Italian Council (7th Edition, 2019).

The show at ar/ge kunst is the first exhibition phase arising from the artist’s in-depth research process in Patagonia, a region for years at the centre of the Mapuche struggles, claims and land recoveries.

Silver Rights focuses on the ancestral bond between the communities and the land (mapu), a bond eroded and denied by colonising forces that have mutated over the centuries to gradually establish themselves in recent decades through neo-extractivist practices; a settlement process resulting from the convergence of investment policies and commercial agreements between South American governments and foreign multinationals, including the Italian Benetton.

The works in the exhibition and the display itself respond to the narrative proposed by the Leleque Museum, an anthropological museum opened in 2000 in the very lands owned by Benetton; an ambiguous operation that dismisses the Mapuche people as an extinct culture rather than one that is alive and active in the disputed territory, “musealising” their memory and material culture.

Elena Mazzi addresses this complexity by engaging in dialogue, supporting and expanding the dense network of relations that the Mapuche community has been consciously weaving for years.  

The central part of the exhibition consists of a series of silver jewelery pieces crafted by Mauro Millán and designed in collaboration with Elena Mazzi after a series of workshops on symbologies and current struggles, held with numerous communities.

The jewels are preceded in the exhibition itinerary by an installation created by Elena Mazzi and Eduardo Molinari in which a composition of images interacts with an audio sequence in four episodes. The jewels are preceded in the exhibition itinerary by an installation created by Elena Mazzi and Eduardo Molinari in which a composition of images interacts with an audio sequence in four episodes. These four short stories were written collectively (with Enrica Camporesi) with a speculative approach that allowed them to interweave documented facts, oral tradition and dreams: the long history of violence perpetrated by historical figures such as General Julio Argentino Roca introduces the current struggle against expropriations and relocations as a result of the ambitions of “adventurous entrepreneurs” such as Carlo Benetton or Joe Lewis.

It is an “act of exhibiting”—supported by the display designed by Alessandro Mason (Studio GISTO)—that consciously places the jewels within a constellation of references and information that are essential to their public presentation. It is a device that represents an expression of care and respect for these artefacts, bearers of ancestral knowledge and spirituality, and that reveals the impact of international companies in Patagonia; massive privatisation of land rich in raw materials and resources (including water), the consequent displacement of indigenous communities and the progressive erosion of their civil, social and political rights.

Silver Rights is complemented by a book published by Archive Books (Berlin), edited by Elena Mazzi and Emanuele Guidi, with contributions from YaBasta! Êdî Bese!, Riccardo Bottazzo, Leandro Martínez Depietri, Emanuele Guidi, Elena Mazzi, Mauro Millán, Eduardo Molinari, Ana Ramos, designed by Archive Appendix.

The exhibition Silver Rights will be presented at Södertälje Konsthall (August 20 – October 2, 2021), Italian Institute of Culture of Buenos Aires and BIENALSUR (autumn 2021). It will enter the collection of the Castello di Rivoli, Museum of Contemporary Art, Turin.

The project is supported by the Italian Council (7th Edition, 2019) program to promote Italian contemporary art in the world by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture.

Special thanks to: Mapuche community Pillan Mahuiza, Lago Rosario, Cushamen, YaBasta! Êdî Bese!, Italian Institute of Culture of Buenos Aires and Italian Institute of Culture of Stockholm, Contemporary Art Archipelago (CAA), Södertälje Konsthall, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, BIENALSUR, [N.A!] Project, Radio Papesse.

Elena Mazzi (Reggio Emilia, 1984) studied at the University of Siena, at IUAV, Venice and at the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm. Her works have been exhibited at: Whitechapel Gallery, London; BOZAR, Brussels; Museo Novecento, Florence; MAGA, Gallarate; GAMeC, Bergamo; MAMbo, Bologna; Art Sonje Center, Seoul; Palazzo Fortuny, Venice; Fondazione Golinelli, Bologna; Centro Pecci, Prato; The 16th Art Quadrennial, Rome; GAM Turin; 14th Istanbul Biennial; 17th BJCEM Mediterranean Biennial; Fittja Pavilion, 14th Venice Biennale of Architecture, COP17, Durban; IIC New York, Brussels, Stockholm, Johannesburg, Cape Town; Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice. She is the winner of Cantica21, the XVII Ermanno Casoli Prize, the STEP Beyond Prize, the OnBoard Prize, the VISIO Young Talent Acquisition Prize, the Eneganart Prize, the Illy scholarship for UNIDEE, the Pistoletto Foundation, nctm e l’arte prize, the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation prize, and the Lerici Foundation prize.