Vendredi 03 Août 2012 15:13:22 par actuphoto dans Expositions

Location: International Festival of Photography in Lodz, Poland The Italian artist Giusy Lauriola is participating in the most important photography festival of Eastern Europe, the fifth installment of the International Festival of Photography inLodz, in Poland, which is being held from the 18thto the 21st of May 2006. This year, the festival has a particularly significant title: “Killing Paradise” setting forth the goal to analyze the latest painful events of our contemporary society through the presentation of the images and works of various artists. Giusy Lauriola was invited to present, in one of her six solo exhibitions, her project “Changelove” (Cambialamore), already presented at the Salon Privé Gallery in Rome in October 2004. Her work is expressed in an installation composed of a single 30 meter strip as well as through a video-clip. The strip is a large “photographic fresco” in which the images extrapolated from the media are manipulated and reassembled in a sarcastic and provocative manner. The Festival is organized by the Polish Foundation for Visual Arts Education and is an event which hosts various exhibitions, workshops, meetings, presentations, and other cultural events. Various established artists will be present, but young photographers from various countries are also invited to participate in an open competition sponsored by the FEW. This year there are 4000 anticipated guests. The FEW is part of the PHOTO FESTIVAL UNION, the association which unites 28 European photography festivals and was founded in Lodz in October 2005.Its purpose is to promote collaboration, cultural exchanges, exhibitions, and educational activity among various photography festivals organized throughout Europe. The Foundation for Visual Arts Education has its permanent seat in a complex industrial plant from the early 20th century, more than 6000 square meters in size and recently renovated into a museum and an exhibition hall. This suggestive space will be the frame of the photographic exhibition of the festival and the exhibition of the Italian artist Giusy Lauriola. Lodz, the second largest Polish city, is the cultural capital of its cinema, photography, and contemporary art. Indifference, cold like a mirror or television screen, is the theme of Giusy Lauriola's project, “Changelove” (Cambialamore). The project is expressed with an installation composed of a single, pointillized photographic strip, 30 meters long, and with a video-clip.The artist draws her inspiration from the stream of images supplied by mass communication, released into the miscellany of the network, both tabloid and web, and handed over to the imminent obliteration of commercial logic. The strip is a large “photographic fresco” in which the images extrapolated from the media are manipulated and reassembled in a sarcastic and provocative manner. The images flow from one to the next; scenes and symbols encoded in our unconscious: the towers of the World Trade Center in flames, Afghan women in burkas, American soldiers shooting, combat airplanes and helicopters, and the tortured prisoners of Abu Ghraib. In this work, human pain is contaminated by the hedonism of a society that does not suffer.The result is a unispacial space of paradoxical coexistence between the tragedy of a tortured humanity and the indifference of those who have learnt to close their eyes in the face of the suffering of others. The video-clip, “Changelove”, tells the story of a young woman making herself up in front of a mirror, while the radio delivers information on the war in Iraq. In the mirror, the lipstick on her lips reflects with indifference to pain and death. Giusy Lauriola, before professionally dedicating herself to art, also worked as a journalist and communication manager. This experience has reinforced a particular link with reality, photography, advertising, and new technology. To realize her works, Lauriola utilizes images extrapolated from various mass media, re-elaborated by her computer, and painted on industrial supports (such as Plexiglas and synthetic materials).She also expresses herself through video art and writing to narrate her creative journey.Lauriola lives and works in Rome. AGNIESZKA ZAKRZEWICZ - Curator of the Exhibition “Contrast is the key to my work. I began to use contrast in 2004 on the occasion of the Fourth Forum of the Alliance of Cities Against Poverty, at the Convention Hall in Rome. I created works for “Terres des Hommes” Italy, a non-profit organization. My photographic works on Plexiglas represent the streets of Rome and the glances of children from lands stricken with hunger and war, inserted onto large advertising boards.” G.L. International Festival of Photography in Lodz, Poland