Rudolf Stingel

MART, Trento
Through June 30

Rudolf Stingel has produced a series of work that interrelates with the renaissance Palazzo delle Albere in which it is exhibited and strengthens the results of the artist’s explorations into the reinterpretation of space and time, absence and presence, past and future that he has been investigating over the last ten years. In the museum’s main hall—an obligatory first port of call, from which the other rooms radiate—the artist has intervened radically to cover the whole surface area, including the ceiling, with aluminum-backed panels. In these rooms within a room, the visitor is disorientated by the “hall of mirrors” effect created by the reflective materials employed and the precarious nature of the recreated floor.

The installation seems to come to an end with three wall pieces, set in three exhibit spaces, which rise up from the center of the room. These are colored polystyrene panels onto which ellipses and concentric circles have been carved—creating an almost labyrinthine effect that provides a visual interpretation of the disarming sensation that the aluminum room provokes—or op-style geometric patterns.

Four further rooms form a corollary to this central nucleus in which certain elements of Stingel’s decodification of space and time have been reproposed. Once again one finds his surfaces covered in used carpet, which so typified his exploration of the idea of presence and absence during the ’90s. Once again one can see the white polyester panels that, almost obscured by heavy human footprints, attempt to represent this dialectical relationship. The fragility nature of the material employed underscores the weight that a mark or sign can bear as a trace of an indefinite human presence.

Also dating to the early ’90s are Stingel’s works dealing with functional objects, symbols of our daily lives. These include the radiator that has been denuded of its defining characteristic—that of being a heat-emanating object—to become the only cold presence in a setting whose rich decoration renders it warm and welcoming. Two oils on canvas on display are, however, recent. The carefully studied structure of these works exactly reproduces the fragmented forms of the frescoes next to which they have been deliberately placed thus generating a comparison between ancient and modern techniques.

The result is a highly evocative walk through past and present time, real and virtual space, in which the artwork stands as a sign, a trace, a footprint of memory that seeks to interpret the present and reflect the future.




Francesca Turchetto
Translation by Rosalind Furness