TIED, Elisa Florimond, Mara Fortunatović, Maria Szakats @ Rinomina - 2022

Rinomina is pleased to present the exhibition TIED, showing one installation combining works by Elisa Florimond, Mara Fortunatović, and Maria Szakats conceived independently by the three artists. 

Conditioned by an initial positioning decided in unison by the artists and the curator and guided by the physical boundaries of the space, the final result deploys itself across the structure of Rinomina in a unique method and layout. In fact, TIED is a situation : an unrepeatable construction, temporarily binding unassociated works with solid, physical connections. Through candid and consensual contact, the present works are tied into one, feeding on one another, touching, piercing, pressing, and projecting. Through mutual consumption and reciprocal offering, a well-defined unity has been created, without nonetheless erasing the borders between works and styles, which remain unambiguously clear.

UNTITLED I

Maria Szakats’ knitted installations reveal a robust presence. Neatly joining plaited iron links into a polished metal fabric, the artist challenges our present biased projections of employing and assigning mediums and materials according to preconceived binary gender divisions. Wholeheartedly assuming the household feminist artistic aesthetics - the artist sincerely rejoices in the use of a so-called feminine medium, assuming ancestral skills of textile fabrication and resorts to metal not for its so-called masculine nature, but rather for its practical and aesthetic qualities of durability, malleability, tint. Continuously playing on the notion of contrast, the work conveys an overall sentiment of lightness, which clashes with the physical heaviness of the ponderous iron cloth. In the style of French gothic cathedrals, without obstructing air or light, the structure emanates a lace-like impression. This semi-transparent curtain seems volatile and penetrable, yet at the same time materializes itself as a rigid separation of the space, a fabricated wall. 

LIGHTS

Elisa Florimond’s work “Lights” consists of projecting a collection of found cinematic images intuitively gathered according to their subject, form, and color. Part of an ongoing series of research and archiving, the artist instinctively conserves shots of images on various topics : insects, lights, hands; which she observes in films and later associates according to resulting categories. Following the act of automated continuous accumulation, the work demonstrates a precise sensitivity the artist deploys across her work, manifesting a profound study of the detail, often emblematic of a whole. In our digital world overwhelmed with the flux of images, the artist discerns and seizes images that make sense. Through categorizing, she portrays the unconscious longings of her eyes and mind. 

A meta-projection : sending images of light through rays of light, the piece connects physically and conceptually to the two other works in the exhibition. Embracing both the rigid and transparent aspects of Maria Szakats’ work, Elisa Florimond utilizes it as a surface for her projection, thus creating an intended bond between the two. By projecting only one part of the images over the work “Untitled I” and another on the wall, one can see that neither works need, nor depend on each other, but rather, that they create a conscious pact of coexistence. On the other hand, the electric current required to operate the projector was chosen to be transmitted through the sculpture “Electra” by Mara Fortunativić, once again underlining the voluntary and not conditional intention of the unity.  

ELECTRA

In an atmosphere of subtle biomechanics à la HR Giger, yet thriving in the purist lightness of minimalism, Mara Fortunativić’s sculpture from her ongoing series “Electra” is occupying the space in an imposing, yet affectionate embrace. Using the heavily symbolic, however overwhelmingly banal material of electrical cables, “Electra” is concentrating a superposition of meanings. Exploring the question of the importance of everyday objects, giving them an intricate and elaborate shape, the artist seeks to make the typical uncommon. Nonetheless, she does not scorn their initial practical use of transmitting electrical current - as put to use in the present installation. Furthermore, the macramé knots emphasize the intention to redesign the object by applying a layer of traditional Northern-African folk culture, bringing up the notion of familiarity from another subconscious layer. Looking for the fine line difference between the art and the design object, “Electra” exalts in its ability to simultaneously instill pure concept and straight exploitation into the contemporary artwork. 

In an installation, works can begin a life of their own. These distant, yet familiar objects reveal a strange intimacy. Unrecognizable at first, they bring up the uncanny of daily life in a poetic unison of three voices. Like the touch of a stranger, the installation positions itself on the verge of the uncomfortable. Unassociated works feed off each other in a way that is nevertheless non-depending. All connections are decisions. As an underlying aspiration for a community we stand for, the installation is a metaphor : all works could exist on their own but were consciously arranged to stand together by choice, consent, and joy. 

Curator : Gabriela Anco

With: Elisa Florimond, Mara Fortunatović, and Maria Szakats

Press Release (PDF)