Dedicated to the young Italian artist Eleonora Roaro, Loops presents a selection of works about repetition and self-portrait realized by the artist over the last five years.
Focusing on video and archaeology of cinema, the exhibition underlines the performative aspects of her practice through the setup of repeated and obsessive actions that become metaphors for human limits. Whether pre-cinematic devices such as zoetropes and magic lanterns question the perception of artworks in the space, the loop works as a narrative engine, able to tell a story with only a very few elements. The repetitiveness of movements contributes to deconstruct the actions, revealing their both mechanical and fictional dimensions.
From the internal rhythm of the sequences on a loop to the inaudible music coming from the vinyl records placed under the zoetropes, the sound also creates a meditative atmosphere leading the viewer to experience the “hinc et nunc” of the display.
Not only are cyclical time and self-portrait recurring themes of the exhibition, but so too are balloons, an ironic metaphor for ephemerality.
In the one-second videos of 00:00:00:01, their pops remind us of the catastrophic impact of human actions on the Earth’s ecosystem, whereas in the zoetrope Farewells Never Are Farewells, a black gas balloon flies away and always comes back, highlighting paradoxical aspects of life.