June 20 – July 3, 2019
Monday through Friday, from 10am to 5pm.
Italian Cultural Institute of New York
The exhibition reflects on the research processes of Fatma Bucak and Antonio Fiorentino, throughout their residency period at ISCP (International Studio & Curatorial Program) in New York. The two artists are the recipients of the sixteenth edition of the Premio New York (New York Prize).
Embracing the nature of the residency period, the exhibition hosts the artists’ recent work in progress, revealing their material and conceptual interrogations that will lead into mature bodies of work based on their in-depth research on the delicate topics that they are dealing with.
Bucak’s practices in performance, photography, sound, and video center on political identity, cultural and gender norms, and landscape as a space of historical renegotiation. Her recent work examines the fragilities: of politics, of possession, and ultimately of memory, through discarded debris of the city, and turns them into new forms, interrogating what is cast away and what remains.
Fiorentino experiments with matter, manipulating its transformation processes in time, blurring its age. His recent research focuses on material alteration of objects, concealing the natural and human-made forces behind their existence and aging process.
Throughout the research and production processes of the bodies of work-in-progress that are presented in the exhibition, the two artists worked in collaboration with New York-based curator Isin Önol. The exhibition was shaped as a result of their collaborative thinking process and discussions during their residency.
The fellowship program “Premio New York” is organized by The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), the Italian Ministry of Cultural Activities (MiBAC), the Italian Cultural Institute of New York and Columbia University’s Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America.
Fatma Bucak lives and works between London and Istanbul. She has had solo exhibitions at Fondazione Merz, GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna Sant’Anna, Brown University David Winton Bell Gallery, ARTER Istanbul, Artpace San Antonio, Pori Museum, and Castello di Rivoli. Her work has also been exhibited at the Goteborg Biennial 2017, 54th Venice Biennale Tese di San Cristoforo – Arsenale, The Jewish Museum New York, among others.
Antonio Fiorentino lives and works in Milan. His work has been exhibited in MUSAC Leon, Swiss Institute of Rome, National Gallery of Rome, HIAP Helsinki, Kunst Meran, Center of Contemporary Art Villa Arson Nice, American Academy of Rome, Contemporary Locus Bergamo, and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Torino among other institutions.
Isin Önol is a New York-based curator. She is a member of the Center for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University, board member of the Roberto Cimetta Fund, and a visiting professor in the visual arts program at Montclair State University in New Jersey.
