untitled (poem a)
text on soft-fiber cellulose, acrylic sheeting glass and paint, galvanized steel, 4h2m (audio loop), 2022
clemente ciarrocca
text
clemente ciarrocca
source material from vito acconci, hanne darboven, ezra pound; julia kristeva, edouard glissant, gilles deleuze
sound
clemente ciarrocca
source material from gioacchino rossini, lykke li, morphine, underground resistance, ludwig van beethoven,
gerald donald, viola valentino, tim maia (unlicensed, non-commercial use)
thank you
julian
aashray
sophia
opened gallery d301, 24-27 jan 2021
california institute of the arts, ca
image and part sound © clemente ciarrocca 2022
UNTITLED (POEM A) IS A POEM OF 37 PAGES AND ITS EXHIBITION/EXPOSURE.
THE POEM AND ITS EXHIBITION ARE IDENTICAL: THERE IS NO SAME POEM BEYOND WHAT THIS EXPOSURE WAS AND BROUGHT WITH AND ON ITSELF.
THE POEM TALKS OF EXCESS, CONTROL, EXCESS, POIESIS, BRAINFEEDING, ENDING, KISSING, DESCRIPTION AND DESCRIBING, CONFIGURATION, PAIN, ANIMALS, CRITIQUE, BRIDGHID, JUICING, MALADY, TAMING, ZONES, COPS, MASKS,
NAVIGATING AND NAVIGATION, LOVING, ARTEMIS, WATER, KUSS, SELF-MINING, ISLANDS, RETALIATION.
SPREAD ACROSS THE FOUR WALLS OF THE GALLERY, THE POEM’S PAGES ARE NAILED TO THE WALL WITH THICK, LONG NAILS, COVERED IN A PEARL-BLUE ACRYLIC GLAZE.
THREE LIGHTS ARE POSITIONED BY THE EDGES OF THE SPACE, CREATING A FLIPPED TRIANGLE
(AS SEEN FROM THE ENTRANCE). EACH LIGHT LIGHTS UP THE WALL IT IS FURTHEST AWAY FROM.
A SENSATION OF ‘EMPTY CENTER’.
VISITORS HAVE TO BE ‘IN MOTION’ TO READ THE POEM, MOVE THROUGH THE ROOM. AS THEY INITIALLY STEP
INTO THE SPACE, THEY MIGHT BE PERFORMING THE ACTION OF ‘FILLING’ THE CENTER.
BETWEEN THE ‘VISITOR’ AND THE POEM: A MEMBRANE OF PLASTIC SHEETING.
TWENTY-THREE 25x10ft 4ml-THICK SHEETS OF ‘CLEAR’ PLASTIC ‘WRAP’ THE WALLS AND FLOOR OF THE ROOM ALMOST ENTIRELY. GLARING, SHINY. SOME PEOPLE THOUGHT IT WAS WET.
THE MAJORITY OF THE VISITORS EXPERIENCED A MOMENT ‘BEFORE TIME’ WHEN THEY DID NOT REALISE
THERE WAS ‘STUFF’ (TEXT) ON THE WALL
THE WORK IS REALLY NOT ABOUT PLASTIC.
TO PARAPHRASE CHARLES GAINES, THE PLASTIC BECOMES A VERY USEFUL TOOL FOR ME TO CREATE A SYSTEM.
PLASTIC OFFERS A VARIABLE DEGREE OF TRANSPARENCY-OPACITY DEPENDING ON ITS SPATIAL
CONFIGURATION WRT: WHAT LIES IN ITS PROXIMITY, ON LIGHTING INTENSITY, AND ON GAZE ANGLE. BUT IT
ALSO TRANSFORMS, ‘SUBLIMATES’ INTO A SCULPTURAL, LANDSCAPE TOOL, ONCE A CERTAIN DEGREE OF
OPACITY IS REACHED. THINK OF IT AS A SORT OF THRESHOLD, BEYOND WHICH THE ‘FACTUAL’ SUBSTANCE
OF THIS MATERIAL SHIFTS, SIMILARLY TO WHAT HAPPENS WITH A GASEOUS > LIQUID > SOLID CIRCUIT.
THERE IS A POINT AT WHICH PLASTIC ACQUIRES DIFFERENT PROPERTIES ALTOGETHER. THIS POINT WAS
REPRESENTED IN THE SPACE, WHILE REMAINING UNIDENTIFIABLE.
PLASTIC PRESENT IN THE SPACE BOTH AS A LANDSCAPE (A THING?) AND AS A MEASURE OF
TRANSPARENCY/OPACITY (A RELATION?) - AND NOT ‘KNOWING’ WHERE THE LINE REALLY WAS. THE VISITOR WAS
ENTITLED (OR BETTER COULDN’T HELP BUT) ALTERING BOTH DIMENSIONS, JUST BY ENTERING THE SPACE, STEPPING
AND ALTERING THE MORPHOLOGY LITTLE PLASTIC HILLS AND VALLEY.
THE PLASTIC IS SOMETIMES OPAQUE, SOMETIMES TRANSPARENT. THE VISITOR IS IMPLICITLY ENCOURAGED
(BUT NOT EXPLICITLY DIRECTED) TO INCREASE THE TRANSPARENCY OF THE PLASTIC COVERING THE TEXT
BY PRESSINGIT WITH THEIR FINGERS AGAINST THE WALL: IN MOST CASES, TAKING SUCH ‘LIBERTY’ AMOUNTED
TO BEING ABLE TO READ THE POEM OR NOT.
A SHATTERED SHEET OF PLEXI LAYS DECENTERED ON THE FLOOR. MARKINGS OF TWO HAMMER BLOWS
SUGGEST THE CAUSE OF THE SHATTERING, MARKING A SPACE OF WITNESS(ING),
OF POST-, OF AFTERMATH. IS THE VISITOR BEING A SORT OF MINERVA’S OWL?
THE MATERIAL ENGAGED BY THE WORK IS TIME.
[THE ACTION (PERFORMED ‘BY’/‘IN’ THE WORK?) IS THE EXPOSURE OF ‘THE POEM’]
“WHERE IS THE LIBIDO? WHERE IS THE TOOTH... WHERE IS THE TEXTURE?"
“DEATH IN THE SPACE THE SPACE IS A SPACE OF WITNESSING AN EVENT THAT WAS ITS AFTERMATH
SO THE ACTION,
YOUR ACTION, AS YOU WALK INTO THIS T/WOMB COULD BE THE ACTION OF RESURRECTION OF LIVING
AGAIN, TACTILELY,
VISUALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY, OF RESURRECTING THIS WORLD WHERE A THICK MATERIALITY
REMAINS. THE HOSTILITY IS DEATH THE REAL PLEASURE IS BIRTH.”