The latter is an adaptation of the performative action, produced by Oriente Occidente Festival and presented in the halls of the Mart Museum in Rovereto in September 2020. In the room the walls are drawn with colored chalks, as if to recreate a cave of symbolic and fantastic engravings, a nocturnal and colorful dimension of the psyche. The space is illuminated by luminous assemblages arranged as precious three-dimensional lines that seem to ironically detach themselves from the signs on the walls and create an almost psychedelic effect, thus giving a sense of total immersion in the work. Luminous drawings and assemblies interact in a continuous game of hybridization and transformation.
The performance proved to be an opportunity to extend the reflections and increase the potential of a way of assembling that Chiodi developed immediately after his solo show held at the Cannaviello Art Studio (2017).
For that occasion, the artist had begun to create works by inserting and connecting tubular fragments of the most disparate objects (toys, chandeliers, trophies, etc.) capable of ‚drawing‘ ambiguous colored lines in the space, which at times resembled pseudo lamps -functional and light assemblies. The body on stage is understood as a living fragment, a body-object that can be penetrated to extend its form and to question its functions. Thus supporting the stimulus to work on the contamination between new materials and different languages, which has always been a focal point in the artist’s research.
Performer Luca Tomasoni, inauguration day. Performance written by: Umberto Chiodi & Matteo Levaggi. Ph: Alex Iosub 
Performer Luca Tomasoni, inauguration day. Performance written by: Umberto Chiodi & Matteo Levaggi. Ph: Alex Iosub
The project is therefore an implementation of a mimesis between objects, body and space. The weakened actions of the human body oblige the dancers to constantly dialogue with a shape to be crossed, meaning it as a graft and bodily extension. The hula hoop itself – the congenial object given its physiologically circular qualities – is a sort of matrix and bridge between the various assemblages: to the one with the dancer’s body, the various elements that are present in the other assemblies on display. Again, the hoop being a traditional tool in gymnastics is interesting to look for unorthodox or rhetorical solutions of movement.
Finally, the bells of different sizes inserted inside the object give the movements greater strength and thus becoming a rhythmic element managed by the dancer.
Umberto Chiodi was born in Bentivoglio (Bo) in 1981, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna in the painting section. He has exhibited in Italy and abroad in galleries and museums, his works are in important private and public collections (Bertolini Collection, Museum of the’ 900, Milano, JP Morgan Chase Art Collection, New York). He has worked as an illustrator in the publishing and fashion sector. He is professor of Visual Arts at the LABA (Libera Accademia delle Belle Arti) at Brescia. He lives and works in Milan since 2007.
Osservatorio Futura is an online editorial project and an independent art space based in Turin, founded by Francesca Disconzi and Federico Palumbo. Over the Rainbow – Turin is therefore a revival of the performance held at the Mart in Rovereto. The dimensions of the Turin exhibition space, smaller than those of the Trento Museum, convinced the artist and the choreographer to rework the performative act. The concept remains the same, while the layout is revised to meet different needs: a portal to another dimension, capable of preserving within itself a magical moment, therefore hyper-symbolic and more widespread. The human presence – and its relative sound and movement power – is on a stage where languages and materials blend together.
Exhibition: MOONBOW – Over the Rainbow. Curated by: Federico Palumbo
Exhibition duration: 6th of November till 8 December 2021
The artist’s personal exhibition will remain installed until 8 December 2021 and can be visited by appointment via email or on the Osservatorio Futura social networks. All events take place in compliance with anti-covid norms.
Address and contact:
Osservatorio Futura
Via Giacinto Carena, 20, 10144 Torino TO, Italy
www.osservatoriofutura.it