Deutsche Version unten
17 November 2023, at 8 pm
1 SECOND 1 GRAM
at DIENSTGEBÄUDE, Töpferstrasse 26, 8045 Zurich
Performance by Luisa Turuani
Curated by Arianna Guidi
In collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute Zurich
OnCurating Project Space @ DIENSTGEBÄUDE, Töpferstrasse 26, 8045 Zürich
Present age is characterized by frenetic transformations, sudden accelerations and braking, urgent deadlines and endless updates. The consequences are dreadful for our society which becomes weak and deprived of time, the latter being one of the most important and essential resources for today’s Capitalist society. 1 second 1 gram performance raises questions about the value of making time as well as space; the project offers a lost dimension of generosity and grace and empowers the single individual within a community.
The performance, intended both as an individual and a collective act, begins by asking visitors how much time they wish to have; their decision is personal, inviolable and non-retroactive. The desired time is converted into a quantity of clay, according to the ratio 1 second = 1 gram, and visitors can freely shape the given clay during the established time, becoming performers themselves. A timer is set to monitor the duration of the individual performance and when the time is up the participants are invited to leave the clay object on the table and exit the space. As the performance continues, an exhibition of objects is progressively created. At the end of the performance, participants receive a personal certificate certifying the success of the action.
1 second 1 gram performance gives the possibility to reflect on the way we create space and time in our life, allowing participants to ask time, take time, shape time, hold time. It reflects on human attempts of controlling, sculpting and consuming the temporal dimension, an element which is becoming more and more elusive in our era. The project draws inspiration from the anxious struggle and need to always be on track and wants to create the space and time aimed not at creating a product, but aimed at the pure pleasure of reviving a dormant desire.
Between 2022 and 2023, 1 second 1 gram project has involved many cultural partners among which we find: MIC-International Museum of Ceramics (Faenza), Careof (Milan), Kuona Artists Collective (Nairobi), Modo asbl (Bruxelles), La Rada (Locarno), BAC (Berna Arte e Cultura) and Lac o Le Mon Foundation (Lecce).
This project is supported by the Italian Council (11th edition, 2022) that promotes contemporary Italian art worldwide and it’s sponsored by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture.
Biography Luisa Turuani
Born between the pre-digital era and that of hyperconnection, Luisa Turuani research reveals the beauty inside the obvious and familiar forms. She investigates the ephemeral limits and the irreversible dissolution of life, proposing a poetic approach that acts beyond time and matter. Born in 1992 in Milan, she studied Sculpture at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Luisa most important exhibitions include: Dialogos Part Seven, SuperOtium, Naples, 2023; Gaze off, Lugano Fair, Switzerland, 2022; Split step, Milano, 2022; Aspettando Ermanno Cristini, riss(e), Varese, 2022; Travel Diary, snark.art, 2021; Domani Qui Oggi, collateral event of Quadriennale 2020, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, 2020; GQ-Passion for the path of art, Cardi Gallery, Milan, 2019; Artagon Live, in collaboration with Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, 2019; Biennial UK Young Artist, Nottingham, 2019; Artagon III, Paris, 2017; Tirarsi fuori, P420 Gallery, Bologna, 2017. She was awarded multiple prizes such as: Special Prize Arte Laguna – Villa Rechsteiner Residency (2022); Opera Viva – il Manifesto (2020), AccadeMibact Prize (2019), Combat Prize (2019), Nocivelli Prize (2018). Furthermore Luisa was a finalist at Arte Laguna Prize (2022), Exibart Prize – II Edition (2022), Francesco Fabbri Prize (2021) and Arteam Prize (2018). Her most important artistic residencies include: Dialogos Part Six, Nairobi, Kenya (2022); Synchronicity, Hangzhou, China (2016).
