Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Wallpaper MARCH 11, 2008 - by Sara Manuelli

MIMMO PALLADINO/BRIAN ENO SHOW

Few Italian artists are as intellectually curious as Mimmo Paladino and even fewer are as prolific. In the last two years alone, Paladino has presented the Venice Film Festival with his movie El Quijote, a poetic film on the mythical hero of Cervantes, generated a collaboration of furniture with Massimiliano Fuksas at the 2006 Milan Furniture Fair, and created a documentary on Bruno Munari's work. These activities being a sideline to Paladino's unrelenting production of art, with major exhibitions in Buenos Aires, Paris, Naples and Modena.

Paladino's humble attitude towards his achievements and the effortless results belie the huge level of craftsmanship behind his work. At the Ara Pacis installation, Paladino has filled the space with his trademark signs and symbols. A metal cast of shoes, signs and patterns on the wall, sleeping anthropomorphic shapes and broken terracotta urns. Working with Paladino's narrative, Brian Eno is building a story around the works using lighting and a sound of fragments, interruptions, and suggestions.

The aim here is to transform the Ara Pacis space into an 'Ara Artis', a home for the art, a place where collaborations can flourish according to curator Achille Bonito Oliva. This sentiment is not lost on Romans that are currently pushing the city as a modern artistic centre. The hope is that this event will mark the beginning of a new artistic season on their doorstep.