Hannes Egger, Vedere l’invisibile, 2017
The action, made by Hannes Egger on Fondazione Barriera, turned the opening of the exhibition into a collective performance inside the exhibition space.
A voice-over personally addressed every single spectator through the headphones given at the entrance. The work aimed to create a direct interaction between the space and the body of the visitor, who was asked to embrace a dynamic and performative role rather than a static and contemplative one.
While experiencing the crossing of the void through see the invisible , a series of references taken from the history of art appeared. They were recalled by the narrator and “moved” by the public, whose imaginative capacity was constantly tickled.
Drawing on sources from Rodin’s Thinker to Canova’s Dancer , Hannes Egger’s “imaginary sculptures” expanded the perceptive boundaries of the exhibition space and the spectator’s function within it.
The many historical references in Egger’s work -the first one is imprinted on the curtain from which the path starts- are necessary to (re)place Barriera’s space inside the wider context of the neighborhood itself, whose industrial past is less and less known because of the process of gentrification that took shape in recent years.
Hannes Egger
Vedere l’invisibile
chairs, headphones, print on book
dimensions variable
2017
Fondazione Barriera, Torino
Photo: Stefano Fiorina
Hannes Egger 