Bruno’s House is a project by Salvatore Arancio, winner of the PAC2021 - Piano per l'Arte Contemporanea promoted by Direzione Generale Creatività Contemporanea of the Italian Ministry of Culture, that consists of a new body of works made for the MACTE Museum.
The work elaborates impressions sparked by Arancio's visit to the Bruno Weber Park, not far from Zurich. The large sculpture park, built between the mid-1960s and early 2000s by Swiss architect and artist Bruno Weber, is inspired by Eastern mythology and European folk tales, and presents itself to visitors as a place out of the ordinary, with sculptures that can be touched, walked through and used, and that collectively stimulate an enjoyable immersive aesthetic experience. It is a counter-world, which according to Weber, opposes a surreal dimension to a reality increasingly devastated by the technological and economic developments of the second half of the 20th century.
Salvatore Arancio, thrilled by this phantasmagorical environment, has transposed it into his playful and voluptuous artistic imagery, with a new series of sculptures that continue his ceramic production with flamboyant glazes made during a residency in Hungary and a new production of bronze tiles, which will become the faces of a seat that will be installed in the MACTE garden to become a permanent attraction.
Bruno’s House also includes a video, shot by Arancio with an original soundtrack from musician Robin Rimbaud- Scanner: the trailer can now be watched on MACTE Digital. The video recreates a psychedelic journey among the architectures and sculptures that enliven the Swiss park, offering an escape from the ugliness of everyday life.
The works will be unveiled to the public on September 23 at the presence of Salvatore Arancio, and enter the museum's permanent collection. The artist's solo exhibition at MACTE will be held in June 2024.
Salvatore Arancio (Catania, 1974) investigates the potential of images through ceramics, engraving, collage, animation and video. Each aspect of his practice revolves around the theme of representation and explores the origins of images –natural and artificial, mineral and vegetable, scientific and mythological – aiming to create a sort of atlas of confusion. His works have been exhibited in international institutions and exhibitions, including: La Biennale di Venezia (2017); MO.CO, Montpellier, (2022); MAXXI, L'Aquila (2021); Museo del Novecento, Florence (2019); Bardo National Museum, Tunis (2019); Foundacion Arte, Buenos Aires (2016); BI- CITY Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, Shenzen (2020); Hayward Gallery, London (2022); Manif D’Art 5, The Quebec City Biennal, Canada (2010); Prague Biennale 4 (2009); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2018); Kunsthalle Winterthur (2016); Museo Tamayo Mexico (2013).
The project won the PAC2021 - Piano per l’Arte Contemporanea promoted by the Direzione Generale Creatività Contemporanea of the Italian Ministry of Culture.