Selected Work, 1999–2012

Abstract

Selected Work, 1999–2012 Davide Bertocchi Davide Bertocchi was born in Modena, Italy in 1969. He currently lives and works in Paris, where he was artist in residence at Le Pavillon du Palais de Tokyo (2003–2004). He has exhibited extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. Recent solo exhibitions include Empirical Resolution Attempts, Galerie Pangée, Montreal (2011); Mono-Cycles, l’Ozio, Amsterdam (2011); “Divide” Bertocchi, BASE: Progetti per l’Arte, Florence (2009). He has recently exhibited in group shows including Performa 09: Pandora’s Sound Box, White Box Projects, New York City (2009); Ça & là (This & There), Fondation d’entreprise Ricard and Pavillon du Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012); Notes on Camp, Jarach Gallery, Venice (2012). www.davidebertocchi.com Selected Work, 1999–2012 Davide Bertocchi uses imagery culled from music and science, which he intentionally manipulates by imposing unusual and intimate perspectives. His body of work, ranging from video to sculpture to sound installations, mainly deals with pseudo-scientific phenomena, such as the dissipation of energy and the movement of information through its “support mechanisms” such as CDs, DVDs, records, and/or magnetic tapes, the orbital movements of planets and galaxies—this useless rotating revolutionary movement and its existential and enigmatic impact on everyday life. One of his best-known works, Spazio, an endless work in progress started in 1999, depicts an infinite number of images of planets or galaxies completely invented by him, but that may indeed exist, as our knowledge of the universe is still very limited. His work questions the scientific monopoly that has presumed to explain everything with a sequence of models and a belief in a general idea of Progress. It does so by pointing to the immensity of what is not known—whether we can accept it or not—as our greatest freedom. Click for larger view View full resolution Contemporary Italian Thought (1) Click for larger view View full resolution Click for larger view View full resolution Davide Bertocchi, Quadrophenia, 2004 aluminum walker, vinyl records, aluminum, mirrors 130 × 160 × 100 centimeters Courtesy the artist and the collection of Norman Regis, Milan The wheels are made from two sizes of vinyl records, allowing the walker to move only in circles. [End Page 3] Click for larger view View full resolution Davide Bertocchi, Are You Ready?, 2002 Single channel video. 13 minutes. Filmed by Jonathan Brooks. Photo: Ken Dickinson Members of a Metal Detecting Club in Wales seek twelve metal letters buried in the sand by the artist. When assembled, the letters spell out “Are you ready?,” the words of the first wireless transmission made by Guglielmo Marconi in 1897. [End Page 6] Click for larger view View full resolution Davide Bertocchi, Passato, Futuro, 2007 modified 1970s alarm clock Original alarm clock modified by the artist to present a constantly changing time following an unpredictable random logic. [End Page 20] Click for larger view View full resolution Davide Bertocchi, Scettro, 2012 wood, 45 rpm vinyl record, playing card 112 × 25 × 25 centimeters Courtesy the artist and Jarach Gallery, Venice Photo: Claudia Rossini Part of a new series of sculptures made following a random logic: the objects are not linked to each other until they are combined to form a new logic, a new sense to be discovered. [End Page 28] Click for larger view View full resolution Davide Bertocchi, B2, 2004 29 skateboards assembled on a steel structure 389 × 248 × 20 centimeters Courtesy the artist and the collection of Tullio Leggeri, Bergamo Produced with Le Pavillon, Palais de Tokyo, Paris This moving sculpture borrows its shape from the B-2 stealth bomber. A team of skateboarders rode this unidentified object around the parking lot at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. [End Page 54] Click for larger view View full resolution Davide Bertocchi, Spazio, 1999–present 3000 ink-jet prints on photo paper each print is 7.5 × 4.5 centimeters Courtesy the artist, My Private, Milan, and MAMbo Bologna Photo: Marc Domage Every photo represents an imaginary planet or astronomical site created by the artist. Each image is different and the work is an “infinite” work in progress. [End Page 62] Click for larger view View full resolution Davide Bertocchi, Le r...