| Ars Anthology |
| Fabrizio Plessi: 1970-2005 IVAM Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia, Spain, 28 June – 26 August 2007 by Silvio Saura |
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Fabrizio Plessi, one of the most important European video-artists, combines his fascination for materiality, which comes from the tradition of the Arte povera, with his interest for video, the experimental means and the facilities of specific location. All his monumental and baroque installations include natural forces, such as water and fire, juxtaposed with elements of the world of construction in an attempt to make us think about our own ideas concerning history, recollection and landscapes, both natural or constructed. The exhibition presented at the IVAM brings together the installations Water Circles; Armadio Bianco-Armadio Rosso-Armadio Nero; Hoist; Narcissus; Stanza del Mare; Cristallo Liquido; Arch I Liquidate; Mare Orizzontale; Water closet Wind; Reflecting Water; Waterfall; Art; Videoland; including an installation with projects of other artpieces realized in different cities. The catalogue edited for the occasion with texts of Jaime Siles, Marco Tonelli, as well as the director of the IVAM and curator of the exhibition, Consuelo Císcar, highlighted by Plessi's biography which illustrates through images of the exposed installations. Fabrizio Plessi (Reggio Emilia, Italy, 1940) was trained at the Artistic Lyceum and later at the Accademia delle Belle Arti of Venice, where he would become a teacher of painting. Already in his early years, from 1968, the water is the central topic of his work, appearing again and again in his installations, movies, videos and representations. In his work, his theme takes two directions, as much through the conceptualization of aquatic images as through different direct actions with the water playing the role as protagonist. His work is characterized by combining a fascination for the materiality proceeding from the Italian tradition of Arte povera, with the video, the experimental means and installation in specific locations. Thus, in his work there is a reflection of the ambiguity of the visual image, the deceitful perception of the reality by the senses and the relation of man to his environment. It makes us ponder the origin of nearly everything. Also of importance are “time”, memory and recollections in a constant dialectic of opposite concepts: essence - appearance, interior - exterior, object - concept, natural - artificial, conscious - unconscious, reality - representation, unit - plurality, reason - intuition, etc. Water has been a constant element in his work during more than 30 years, a metaphor of the creation, of the reflection, of the flow and transformation. It is never used as a physical reality, but as an image of the video, the monitor of video is the object protagonist, metaphor of the modern society and more common communication, fulfilling the function of window to reveal other realities. He inherits from the Arte povera the conceptual approach to his work, the use of materials without manipulative promoting of the energetic power and transforming the same ones, including the sound capable of transforming spaces. He exhibited in the experimental pavilion of the Biennale di Venezia in 1970 and 1971. In this period he realizeed a series of exhibitions in different places such as the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara (1975), the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich (1978), the Internationaal Cultureel Centrum in Antwerp (1980) and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (1975, 1983). Then he took part in the Festival of Cinema of Venice presenting his movie Liquid Movie and winning the prize Città di Milano in 1980. The following year, he exhibited at the Venice Film Festival Underwater, a French production. This marked the first time that other electronic medium were included in a film festival. In 1982 at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris he exhibited his videos. In this period he began examining thoroughly the spatial conditions and the options that they offer videoart, incorporating a third dimension to his work. Here the illusory relation between the reality of the liquid element and his representation becomes stronger thanks to the technological possibilities and continuous expansion of electronic and mechanical playback. In the current decade he has developed a monumental slope of his work with creations of video installations like “Liquid Time”, produced by Philips for the Trade fair of Berlin, acquired by the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie of Karlsruhe, and also the work that the Italian Government entrusted him for the EXPO 2000 of Hannover, “Mare verticale” (vertical Sea) a structure of steel of 44 meters of height with a led-screen that simulates electronically the movement of the sea; also the giant electronic waterfall that constitutes a spectrum of color with 16 million variations, monumental work that the Sony Center inaugurated in 2000 at the Potsdamer Platz of Berlin.
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