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ArTOULOUS'Expo 2017
March, 2017
B.Zanconato will take part at the 9th edition of Salon & Marché d’Art Contemporaine ArTOULOUS’Expo2017 that will be held in Toulouse (France) from Mars 17th until Mars 19th with two works titled “INANIA VERBA” and “KRIYA”.
“INANIA VERBA” (literally “empty words”) touches on the delicate topic of interpersonal communication and relationship between individual and society; how empty of substance are so many terms and concepts that daily fill public speeches and media spaces. Equality, democracy, freedom, justice, respect, coherence, value, love, friendship, privacy, science are terms that stand in this work of B.Zanconato, along with an additional word: nonsense. These are, except the latter, concepts and words commonly used for which it sounds completely superfluous give a definition because of their frequent use. They all are ideas whose juxtaposition might seem forced: indeed, what does link democracy and love, justice and science, or friendship and privacy?
The early Wittgenstein certainly wouldn't doubt in indicating its own interpretation of the artist's work by seeing the "nonsense" as the unifying element: "democracy, freedom, respect, love, friendship,… are not" – would say the Austrian philosopher – "elementary propositions that translate objective factors in language: they do not mean facts, therefore they are non-sense". Perhaps, in a more mature age Wittgenstein himself who, in the meanwhile, was convinced that the meaning of language is not only to give a verbal representation of the objectivity of things but it is, above all, his way of use to define its sense, that varies depending on the circumstances and intentions also of the speaker, will soften his opinion emphasizing that these concepts are a sort of "language games" that are implemented in a more or less unaware way and which are subject to endless interpretations. And here might be the non-sense: they can mean everything and its opposite, and maybe nothing.
The early Wittgenstein certainly wouldn't doubt in indicating its own interpretation of the artist's work by seeing the "nonsense" as the unifying element: "democracy, freedom, respect, love, friendship,… are not" – would say the Austrian philosopher – "elementary propositions that translate objective factors in language: they do not mean facts, therefore they are non-sense". Perhaps, in a more mature age Wittgenstein himself who, in the meanwhile, was convinced that the meaning of language is not only to give a verbal representation of the objectivity of things but it is, above all, his way of use to define its sense, that varies depending on the circumstances and intentions also of the speaker, will soften his opinion emphasizing that these concepts are a sort of "language games" that are implemented in a more or less unaware way and which are subject to endless interpretations. And here might be the non-sense: they can mean everything and its opposite, and maybe nothing.
These assumptions, however appealing, do not take into account, nevertheless, the specificity of the artist and her particular vision of making art. With her symbolic references, B.Zanconato has accustomed us to a different way of reading her works. Her intent is not only to make us focus and think about issues and ingrained habits, but also to propose new suggestions and new links at different levels. In this perspective, it is possible that the starting interpretation point of "INANIA VERBA" is formed by the Wittgenstein’s non-sense, which then translates in philosophical terms the daily evidence of the gap between the utterance of these concepts and their realization.
But this does not exhaust the intent of the artist.
In fact the way in which each term is represented, a well recognizable graphic sign that becomes almost a brand, seems to indicate that, as well as the trade mark of certain products qualify their quality if not the same identity without the need for additio-
nal indication, as well these terms, today so branded, are used as advertising slogans, without the need for further discussion and references: to take "sight unseen".
B.Zanconato, with this work shows that the “language game” became a brand, a trade mark, i.e. became, for the speaker, a cliché, a stereotype, a modern symbol and as such not to analyze and submit to investigation. And this is the implied unifying element among the various terms and then the thin red thread that binds them in the intention of the artist that is also to highlight a disposable language and disposable values, aiming at the media impact and aesthetics of exposure oratory, often sterile wrapper of nothing (non-sense), to hide something else.
There is no need to make examples of instrumental if not propagandistic use of these concepts: everyone, everyday
But this does not exhaust the intent of the artist.
In fact the way in which each term is represented, a well recognizable graphic sign that becomes almost a brand, seems to indicate that, as well as the trade mark of certain products qualify their quality if not the same identity without the need for additio-
nal indication, as well these terms, today so branded, are used as advertising slogans, without the need for further discussion and references: to take "sight unseen".
B.Zanconato, with this work shows that the “language game” became a brand, a trade mark, i.e. became, for the speaker, a cliché, a stereotype, a modern symbol and as such not to analyze and submit to investigation. And this is the implied unifying element among the various terms and then the thin red thread that binds them in the intention of the artist that is also to highlight a disposable language and disposable values, aiming at the media impact and aesthetics of exposure oratory, often sterile wrapper of nothing (non-sense), to hide something else.
There is no need to make examples of instrumental if not propagandistic use of these concepts: everyone, everyday
experiences it in front of the rituals of politics and the media... and perhaps many of us have lived it even in closer personal relationships about friendship, love, respect and consistency.
This is the question that B.Zanconato sets with "INANIA VERBA": are these concepts, these values really empty, meaningless, non-senses? So should we resign ourselves to see them in this way?
Through this careful symbolic process the artist gets to his true purpose which is to trigger in his audience a personal reflection. In fact, once unmasked the "language game" of these inania verba of collective usage, through a psychological effect of reflexes, the viewer is almost accompanied to give his own personal answer to the same question, and then to ask himself the problem of the meaning that everyone gives to these values. And it is in this subtle maïeutic process that it is expressed the original vision of making art by B.Zanconato: that is not to give answers (because "everyone has to give his one" would say the artist) but to make discover directly that there is not an inherent and a unique meaning of these concepts and that it’s up to every one of us to fill our own personal interpretation to make it then the active motor of our behaviour. And this starting from the most intimate values such as love, friendship, respect and then to arrive to the values where each person is in front to the society, such as equality, freedom, democracy, justice, meritocracy, privacy ...
Moreover, this explains the choice of the second work that B.Zanconato decided to submit to ArToulous'Expo2017: a sculpture (or rather a "metallic collage" as she defines this original technique used for this artwork) titled "KRIYA".
Kriya is a Sanskrit word (क्रिया) which refers to the moment when you capture that awareness as a result of which you are ready to take action or to give manifestation of this new condition ("as when a seed produces a sprout, a thought becomes reality").
This is the question that B.Zanconato sets with "INANIA VERBA": are these concepts, these values really empty, meaningless, non-senses? So should we resign ourselves to see them in this way?
Through this careful symbolic process the artist gets to his true purpose which is to trigger in his audience a personal reflection. In fact, once unmasked the "language game" of these inania verba of collective usage, through a psychological effect of reflexes, the viewer is almost accompanied to give his own personal answer to the same question, and then to ask himself the problem of the meaning that everyone gives to these values. And it is in this subtle maïeutic process that it is expressed the original vision of making art by B.Zanconato: that is not to give answers (because "everyone has to give his one" would say the artist) but to make discover directly that there is not an inherent and a unique meaning of these concepts and that it’s up to every one of us to fill our own personal interpretation to make it then the active motor of our behaviour. And this starting from the most intimate values such as love, friendship, respect and then to arrive to the values where each person is in front to the society, such as equality, freedom, democracy, justice, meritocracy, privacy ...
Moreover, this explains the choice of the second work that B.Zanconato decided to submit to ArToulous'Expo2017: a sculpture (or rather a "metallic collage" as she defines this original technique used for this artwork) titled "KRIYA".
Kriya is a Sanskrit word (क्रिया) which refers to the moment when you capture that awareness as a result of which you are ready to take action or to give manifestation of this new condition ("as when a seed produces a sprout, a thought becomes reality").
In other words kriya represents the moment when it triggers off this sort of quantum leap that determines the action, the transformation and that, on a personal level, we could see as the birth of an awareness that then is ready to lead a change. And the association proposed by the artist of "KRIYA" with "INANIA VERBA" directs the interpretation to a sort of awareness of ourselves, of what we are and that we feel intimately, as a kind of discovery and then affirmation of our own nature and of our own character.
Among other things, it isn’t a coincidence that the original technique used by the artist takes the form of graffiti, that is the distinctive mark, the signature that characterizes every single writer, and that is nothing but an affirmation of himself in the intricate urban jungle. Indeed kriya, the full awareness of ourselves in the modern world, is reflected perfectly in the act of rebellion of the writer, in his need to affirm his identity in the gray metropolitan anonymity. Similarly, the search for our own personal sense of things is exactly the assertion of our being, of our unique individuality, compared to vacuum conformity of clichés and of inania verba.
In this perspective, we can appreciate the logic which led B.Zanconato to the choice of her works on display at ArToulous'Expo2017, that interact and complete each other.
If, on the one hand, "INANIA VERBA" is an invitation to submit to critical analysis the empty words instrumentally used by politics, media, marketing and anything else and, therefore, it is an invitation to explore ourselves looking for our meaning, our personal interpretation of these concepts that fully reflect our being, on the other hand "KRIYA" becomes a kind of encouragement to trust and have care of ourselves and of our worth, to take us to formulate our thoughts, our interpretation that then become action and consistent way of doing things.
At the same time, "KRIYA", the quantum leap and the jump of perspective that leads to awareness of what we are and what we really believe, becomes the driving force which, for each of us, can fill, with our true and deep meaning, the many "INANIA VERBA" that daily are passed to us as empty shells.
So, the choice made by the artist turns out to be an intriguing game of references and circular reflexes in which "INANIA VERBA" becomes the occasion for "KRIYA" and, thus, "KRIYA", our awareness, becomes a key element because the "INANIA VERBA" can be, at least for us, no longer empty.
Andrea Fallini
Among other things, it isn’t a coincidence that the original technique used by the artist takes the form of graffiti, that is the distinctive mark, the signature that characterizes every single writer, and that is nothing but an affirmation of himself in the intricate urban jungle. Indeed kriya, the full awareness of ourselves in the modern world, is reflected perfectly in the act of rebellion of the writer, in his need to affirm his identity in the gray metropolitan anonymity. Similarly, the search for our own personal sense of things is exactly the assertion of our being, of our unique individuality, compared to vacuum conformity of clichés and of inania verba.
In this perspective, we can appreciate the logic which led B.Zanconato to the choice of her works on display at ArToulous'Expo2017, that interact and complete each other.
If, on the one hand, "INANIA VERBA" is an invitation to submit to critical analysis the empty words instrumentally used by politics, media, marketing and anything else and, therefore, it is an invitation to explore ourselves looking for our meaning, our personal interpretation of these concepts that fully reflect our being, on the other hand "KRIYA" becomes a kind of encouragement to trust and have care of ourselves and of our worth, to take us to formulate our thoughts, our interpretation that then become action and consistent way of doing things.
At the same time, "KRIYA", the quantum leap and the jump of perspective that leads to awareness of what we are and what we really believe, becomes the driving force which, for each of us, can fill, with our true and deep meaning, the many "INANIA VERBA" that daily are passed to us as empty shells.
So, the choice made by the artist turns out to be an intriguing game of references and circular reflexes in which "INANIA VERBA" becomes the occasion for "KRIYA" and, thus, "KRIYA", our awareness, becomes a key element because the "INANIA VERBA" can be, at least for us, no longer empty.
Andrea Fallini
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