from 15th Dec 2020 to 6th Jan 2021
Via Bertani 13
00153 Roma
Boucherie is an exhibition conceived and realized by the artists Diego Gualandris and Giorgia Garzilli - with the participation of Maziar Firouzi. The exhibition faces the territory of the fantastic and myth to obtain the bodies of imaginary creatures that are butchered in order to offer pieces of meat ripped from who knows what story, mind or habitat.
Boucherie is an invitation to experience the fantastic as a fundamental part of reality.
The place hosting the exhibition - once a well-known Roman butcher's shop in Trastevere and now Diego Gualandris’ studio - is the pretext from which the corpus of site-specific works born from the collaboration of the artists developed.
In works by artists including Claes Oldenburg, everyday objects and icons of consumerism - such as food and drink - were represented in a way that emphasized their ability to generate desire in consumers. In the case of the works on display, the same desire is directed towards the impossible made accessible through the representation of pieces of meat from fantastic beasts that can be purchased.
In a society where everything is commodified, even what exists only in tales and legends, becomes a normal consumer product.
The intent is to create a theatrical play device between the butcher - personified by the actor Maziar Firouzi - and the visitor / customer. Boucherie - by giving real weight to a fantastic imaginary - is simultaneously a farce and the absolute truth.
Boucherie is an invitation to experience the fantastic as a fundamental part of reality.
The place hosting the exhibition - once a well-known Roman butcher's shop in Trastevere and now Diego Gualandris’ studio - is the pretext from which the corpus of site-specific works born from the collaboration of the artists developed.
In works by artists including Claes Oldenburg, everyday objects and icons of consumerism - such as food and drink - were represented in a way that emphasized their ability to generate desire in consumers. In the case of the works on display, the same desire is directed towards the impossible made accessible through the representation of pieces of meat from fantastic beasts that can be purchased.
In a society where everything is commodified, even what exists only in tales and legends, becomes a normal consumer product.
The intent is to create a theatrical play device between the butcher - personified by the actor Maziar Firouzi - and the visitor / customer. Boucherie - by giving real weight to a fantastic imaginary - is simultaneously a farce and the absolute truth.
Quando Ramazi finì le scorte, scese le scale e aprì la piccola porta in basso a sinistra dell’area 33 in cerca di nuova carne per il negozio, i clienti erano impazienti di assaggiare un pezzo della famosa Tambahlahssa, creatura magnifica e mostruosa che abita i mari del nucleo interno.La signora Mandevilla è sempre la prima che viene a conoscenza delle novità.Ogni mattina acquista da Ramazi due sirenette. Le mangia bollite per colazione con olio, limone, prezzemolo e zenzero.Costei discende da un’antica famiglia romana di extispex, sacerdoti romani che praticavano l’epatoscopia, pratica divinatoria che consiste nell’analisi delle interiora degli animali sacrificati.Ramazi aveva un aspetto rozzo, ma si era ben istruito.Attraverso queste carni, attraverso la merce che vendeva, era diventato un superbo conoscitore di storia, chimica, geografia e astronomia. Conosceva bene anche la letteratura e ricordava a memoria alcune parti di racconti che sfoggiava di tanto in tanto per far bella figura con i clienti. La sua preferita era all’interno de La pelle di Curzio Malaparte:« Era la prima volta che vedevo una bambina cotta, una bambina bollita: e tacevo, stretto da un timor sacro. Tutti, intorno alla tavola, erano pallidi d’orrore. Il Generale Cork alzò gli occhi in viso ai commensali, e con voce tremante esclamò: “Ma non è un pesce!.. È una bambina!”.“No” dissi “è un pesce”».L’identità fittizia di questo luogo reale ne permetteva l’esercizio.Ramazi conosceva le storie di ciascun pezzo di carne, come quella di quei quattro basilischi che un tempo molto lontano da oggi e da ieri erano tutto fuorché basilischi.