Naples, recognize it to know it. An experiential exhibition for a new visual perception of Naples.
A fundraising campaign has just launched on Eppela (link to https://www.eppela.com/it/projects/8413-impossible-naples-project-un-happening-partecipativo) to create an unusual exhibition about Naples: Impossible Naples Project.
Not a simple exhibition, but an engaging and participatory happening, where visitors will have to draw on all their knowledge of Naples’ places and monuments to win one of the exhibited artworks.
We talk about it with the author of the images, Marco Maraviglia.
The word “happening” takes us back to those artistic moments popular in the 60s when the artist involved the public, freeing them from the usual passive attitude towards artworks… what is “happening” about the exhibition you intend to create?
A brief premise is necessary: I believe we should not be passive in the face of our surroundings, but interact with things and life. We are bombarded by an enormous amount of often redundant information and cannot filter out the essential content. Sounds, noises, conversations, images, and therefore art, are a jumble of inputs that we normally do not decode or even try to interpret, but absorb passively.
Fortunately, there are cases where interdisciplinarity, connections, and participation make certain moments useful for stimulating thought.
Sometimes it’s not enough to exhibit a work if there isn’t a curator or the artist to talk about it to a novice audience that wants to get closer to art. I’m not saying the meaning of a work should be explained, but its history, the artist’s poetics, are fundamental for me to better understand what I’m looking at…
Why, then, will Impossible Naples be a happening?
Images of Naples will be exhibited that make it quite unrecognizable. They are manipulations of my photos of the city where places and monuments are assembled, distorting their real physicality with a touch of surrealism, sometimes a bit dadaist, metaphysical, but absolutely not abstract. During the exhibition period, visitors will have the opportunity to fill out a form on which to write which places in Naples they recognize in each exhibited image.
It strongly reminds me of that game, “find the intruder,” but in reverse…
Indeed. We must not forget that play is part of human intellectual development, and then I believe that my artistic action is also stimulating for those who know Naples best, as they will have to truly test themselves. I imagine them in the room observing something they know but don’t recognize, or that they recognize but with a little more enthusiasm, with the satisfaction of when, as children, we guessed all the differences in “sharpen your eyes” puzzles from “Settimana Enigmistica.”
Will there be a prize for those who manage to guess the locations?
Of course, you can win one of the exhibited artworks, chosen by the winner. Except for Metamorfosi Reloaded
What is Metamorfosi Reloaded?
È the longest panorama of Naples in the worldwhich is inspired by M.C. Escher’s Metamorphosis. It took me a long time to create it, and I completed it also thanks to the help of creatives, graphic designers, and photographers who gave me some suggestions last year for a happening I organized.
Its value has not yet been estimated, but it is far superior to that of the other images, also because it will be over 8 meters long and will be printed in a single copy.
Why are you seeking funds to put on an exhibition?
I believe that things should be done well, otherwise it’s better not to do them. Unfortunately, doing them well requires a lot of money. I don’t consider myself an artist but a “creative-technical-photoshopper,” and I don’t have any gallery owner behind me to finance it.
And so?
I strongly believe in participatory things, and crowdfunding is a formula that aligns with my way of seeing life. That’s why I started a fundraising project on Eppela.it (https://www.eppela.com/it/projects/8413-impossible-naples-project-un-happening-partecipativo) and anyone can make donations starting from €5.00 with a credit card. If someone prefers to donate cash, events will be organized to meet in person, and it will also be an opportunity to explain other details of the project. In fact, I’ll tell you right now that we’ll meet on June 23rd at Maison du Tango at 6:30 PM (P.zza Dante, 89 – Naples, Italy) for the first meeting.
Do you think you will reach the amount you need?
I am counting heavily on the sensitivity of friends, family, and Neapolitans who are fond of their city. The event will serve to stimulate their sense of belonging with a different visual perception. Then we will send information to schools to encourage young people to participate in the “mapping.” Perhaps one of them could end up with an artwork already at 14-18 years old.
It should also be considered that with each donation, rewards will be received: for example, for €5.00, your name will be engraved “forever” on a plaque that will be exhibited during the exhibition. A plaque always exudes an epic charm. Then there will be a fun item like a stereoscope to view one of the photos in 3D, the catalog…
You spoke in the plural… “we will send…”
Yes, I’m not a superhero! There’s a staff behind me: the
Photo Polis Cultural Association, with some of its members and people who are supporting and tolerating me, whose names will appear in the acknowledgments of the exhibition catalog. Then there are technical partners who support the initiative by offering expertise, spaces, and event promotion. But it’s a work in progress; surely others who care about the development of cultural events in Naples will be added along the way…
Crowdfunding project on Eppela
https://www.eppela.com/it/projects/8413-impossible-naples-project-un-happening-partecipativo
Facebook “News” Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ImpossibleNaplesProjectNews/
Website
http://impossiblenaples.weebly.com/
Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/ImpossibleNaplesProject/
Instagram Hashtag
#ImpossibleNaplesProject
Info
marco@photopolisnapoli.org
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