"[...] Definition. When any given bodies of the same or different magnitude are compelled by other bodies to remain in contact, or if they be moved at the same or different rates of speed, so that their mutual movements should preserve among themselves a certain fixed relation, we say that such bodies are in union, and that together they compose one body or individual, which is distinguished from other bodies by this fact of union [...]
( Spinoza, Ethics)

GREENHOUSE (SUMMER) e VILLAGE GREEN - progress from june 19th to september 13rd 2009


GREENHOUSE SUMMER
Sophie Usunier – Domestic Conditions

curated by Claudio Cravero

The exhibition takes place in the indoor spaces of The Park of Living Art and it is included in the Art Program directed by Piero Gilardi. The show is the first solo exhibition of French artist Sophie Usunier in Turin (Neufchâteau, 1971, lives and works between Milano and Nancy), and it reflects on the different situations of control of the natural forces. Then, the title “Domestic Conditions” refers to the themes of domestication, a kind of human tame on the environment, and vice versa, of the environment on the human being. In the project, with the adjective “domestic”, in fact, Usunier intends to highlight those opposite powers, strongly linked and connected.
In the main space, the installation Les Vents Contraires takes place with fifteen wind fans, that even blowing refreshing the air they seem to snuff out the greenhouse. Through their windsocks, the installation creates a dynamic Aeolian system that the visitor can disturb and modify only passing through.
Then, in the video Whirling dervish flies, the artist presents a summer flies’ dance shot with a fixed camera under a kitchen lamp. Here, the condition is not real because the domestication displayed is due to a Sufi song that seems to hypnotize the flies.
Also with Les Empaillés and Nature morte, such as the other works in the exhibition featured by anthropological messages, the artist wants to emphasize the shifting border of the animal wildness, that is a kind of human viewing attitude to animal species. This attitude is well known as “icon” (Roberto Marchesini), where the animal represents bad and good human habits, since the fairy tales teach with the man’s zoo-morphology.
Finally, by reflecting on the domestication, Usuniers’ works seem to remand to some lines of Le Petit Prince written by Saint-Exupery, where “apprivoiser” (to tame) means to create links and relations between living species in the same environment.

The exhibition Greenhouse (Summer) and the progress of the Village Green is made possible by the sponsorship and the collaboration of Città di Torino, Compagnia di San Paolo, Centre Culturel Français of Turin and the FRAC – Lorraine (France), and the Galleria Piacentia Arte of Piacenza.
for informations:
PAV - Parco Arte Vivente
Via Giordano Bruno, 31 - 10134 Torino
tel. 011. 3182235 - www.parcoartevivente.it - press@parcoartevivente.it
open hours: from wednesday to friday: ore 15.00 – 18.00; saturday and sunday 12.00 – 19.00
entrance: full ticket 3 Euro, reduced 2 Euro, free to Abbonamento Torino Musei / Torino Card