The Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm in collaboration with Konstfack is pleased to present Shoegaze, an exhibition of new works by Lisa Grip and Danae Valenza curated by Vasco Forconi, student at Curatorlab at Konstfack.
The project is divided in four chapters running throughout 2019 and it will see Sweden and Italy-based artists interact with the building designed by Gio Ponti.
Shoegaze is a subtle tribute to the homonymous musical subculture which emerged in the UK in the late 1980s. The derogatory term coined by the press soon came to represent a short-lived yet influential movement that was able to resist the regime of spectacularity and entertainment dictated by the music market. The desire to be on the public stage with a shy yet often confrontational attitude, the determination to preserve their artistic research, and the affective nature of their collective experience make shoegazing a potential reference for a younger generation of visual artists struggling with self-representation, precarious identity and individualized socio-political attitudes.
The large furnished window designed by Gio Ponti as the only visual threshold between the inside and the outside of the building becomes the stage and the visual device that artists are invited to activate with the production of new works, reflecting on the notions of public appearance and intimacy, voice and shyness, performativity and frailty.
In the first chapter of Shoegaze, Lisa Grip and Danae Valenza occupy the space surrounding the window with two separate works, respectively a visual and a sound landscape, which originate from an extended conversation between them. Both artists share an interest in opening up their practice to a collaboration with groups of people close to them, often dealing with ideas of friction, care and intimacy.