L’intensità, l’onestà e la precisione della sua opera (di Grotowsky) ci hanno lasciato una cosa sola: una provocazione. Non
per quindici giorni, né per una sola volta nella nostra vita, ma per ogni giorno.
Peter Brook (Inverno 1967)
(Dalla prefazione ad un testo di Jerzy Grotowsky : “Per un teatro povero”, Bulzoni Editore,1968).

Attraverso una pratica interdisciplinare (installazioni, video, collages, performances), Jacopo Miliani (nato a Firenze nel 1979) mette in discussione il sistema tradizionale di rappresentazione figurativa, spesso riflettendo sulle connessioni tra cultura di massa e immaginario collettivo. Costante è la sua attenzione verso lo spettatore e i possibili meccanismi d’interpretazione dell’opera.
La sua mostra personale, concepita espressamente per gli spazi dello Studio Dabbeni, si dispiega davanti agli occhi dello spettatore attraverso un allestimento che l’artista ha curato con una precisione nella cura di ogni dettaglio, insieme a perseguire un effetto che richiamasse la “mise en scène” teatrale.
Il primo lavoro, percepibile già dall’esterno della galleria, sembra idealmente introdurre alla mostra, costituendo un invito immediato a scoprire l’esposizione. La ricerca sulla teatralità – che, come si vedrà, pervade la mostra - viene infatti enfatizzata da un sipario, bianco e nero, collocato tra le due vetrine principali della galleria.
L’artista presenta, sulla parete principale della sala di entrata, un lavoro composto da otto stampe fotografiche, rigorosamente in bianco e nero, suddivise orizzontalmente in due parti: quella superiore, occupata da frames tratti da documenti sul performer Ryszard Cieslack, esponente del Teatro Povero di Grotowsky, e la metà inferiore di colore nero, all’interno della quale si inseriscono dei cerchi che riportano immagini desunte da un libro di Storia e Antropologia sociale degli anni Sessanta. L’artista ha chiarito come questo secondo riferimento da lui scelto, si unisca “formalmente e fisicamente al primo”.
Attraverso queste stampe fotografiche, egli trova la forza di innescare un meccanismo di estrema suggestione: mediante questa operazione concettuale, l’artista riesce, infatti, a riportare alla luce l’immagine di una figura-simbolo del Teatro Povero di Jerzy Grotowsky; il protagonista di queste immagini ridiviene, (come lo era stato in scena) l’attore–performer Ryszard Cieslack, un mito del teatro del Novecento, considerato dalla critica l’immagine vivente del metodo del maestro polacco. Jacopo Miliani crea, attraverso questo lavoro, una messa in scena che riesce a mantenere intatto l’antico sortilegio, rappresentato dalla magia di cui era intriso quel movimento fluido, evocato dal corpo del performer; quasi si trattasse di un sortilegio mantenutosi raggelato nel tempo.
Sulla parete di fronte, un altro lavoro ritrae Ryszard Cieslack, mentre dispiega le braccia attraverso un gesto di assoluta e disarmante purezza; alla figura, sono avvicinati due elementi geometrici di speculari dimensioni, posti nella parte inferiore rispetto al soggetto. L’accostamento delle forme all’immagine, la proprietà espressa dalle scelte dell’artista riguardo ai toni bianchi, neri, grigi, appare attentamente meditata.
Come evidenzia l’artista, “l’uso del corpo e della presenza fisica dell’attore come veicolo narrativo, sono una delle caratteristiche principali del Teatro Povero”, che vede “la scena spogliarsi della decorazione descrittiva” e ruotare intorno al corpo dell’attore. Questo egli ha voluto ripercorrere, rimettere ”in scena”. Basterebbe, per averne una percezione concreta, tattile, andare alle fonti, e in particolare al “Training Grotowsky’s “Laboratorium” in Wrozlaw in 1972”, uno dei molteplici documentari visivi a cui l’artista ha attinto. Da questo - bellissimo, da lasciare ipnotizzati-, Miliani ha colto, estrapolandoli abilmente, i movimenti densi di raffinatezza, in particolare delle mani e delle braccia del performer, che sembrano richiamare quelli di un’ala di farfalla, che vengono fissati – “fermati” dall’artista, in un’altra opera che occupa la stanza di passaggio al primo piano.
Nella sala centrale dello Studio, parallelamente, l’artista presenta un lavoro composto da tre fotografie, costituite da fotogrammi che in modo quasi astratto ritraggono una palla che si muove davanti a un sipario teatrale. Egli ha voluto sottolineare come l’ordine sequenziale delle fotografie cambierà quotidianamente, “generando un reale movimento intuibile, ma non percepibile se non dopo un’attesa”.
Un vero apice viene raggiunto attraverso altri quattro lavori, composti da lastre di vetro appoggiate a parete e a pavimento che, attraverso la loro semplice sovrapposizione, sostengono due fotografie accostate: una rappresenta il performer, l’altra è tratta dal libro storico. Le immagini sono già scattate: egli è consapevole di aver compiuto una scelta assolutamente personale a cui non è estraneo l’artificio. Allo stesso tempo, Jacopo Miliani sottolinea come qui “la documentazione storica e l’artificio teatrale si incontrano, ricercando un possibile contatto aleatorio che rispecchia i legami tra i due tipi di convenzioni sociali: la Storia e il Teatro”. (Valentina Bucco)

Presse


"The intensity, the honesty and the precision of his work [Grotowsky's] can only leave one thing behind. A challenge.

But not for a fortnight, not for once in a lifetime. Daily."

Peter Brook, preface to “Towards a Poor Theatre” by Jerzy Grotowsky. Simon and Schuster, 1968.

Through his interdisciplinary practice (installations, video, collages, performances), Jacopo Miliani (born in Florence in 1979) challenges the traditional system of figurative representation, often reflecting upon the connection between mass culture and the collective imaginary. He is constantly concerned with the viewer and to potential mechanisms for interpreting the work.His personal exhibition, conceived expressly for Studio Dabbeni’s spaces, unfolds before the viewer’s eyes with set-up in which the artist presided carefully over every detail, along with pursuing an effect that recalls a theatrical stage set.
The first work, already visible from outside the gallery, seems to be the best one to open the exhibition, serving as an instantaneous invitation to explore the exposition. This examination of theatricality – that, as we will see, pervades the exhibition – is emphasised by a black and white curtain placed between the two main windows of the gallery.
On the main wall of the first room in the gallery the artist presents a work composed of eight strictly black and white photographic prints that are divided horizontally into two parts: the upper section includes frames taken from documents about the performer Ryszard Cieslack, an exponent of Grotowsky’s Poor Theatre, and the black lower half, in which there are circles containing images taken from a book on history and social anthropology dating from the 1960’s. The artist explained how he chose the latter reference, because it is united “both formally and physically to the first”.
With these photographs he is able to trigger an extremely evocative mechanism: through this conceptual operation the artist has managed to bring back into the light the image of a symbolic figure of Grotowsky’s Poor Theatre; the protagonist in these images become once again (as he had been on stage) the actor/performer Ryszard Cieslack, a mythical figure from the theatre of the 1900’s, and considered by critics the personification of the Polish master’s method. In this work Jacopo Miliani creates a stage set that manages to maintain the ancient sorcery intact, represented by the magic that permeated its fluid movement, as evoked by the performer’s body; almost as if it was an incantation that had been frozen in time.
On the facing wall there is a portrait of Ryszard Cieslack unfolding his arms in a gesture of absolute and disarming purity; two geometric elements of the same size are placed near the figure, under and to the side (with respect to the subject). The combination of the shapes and the image, with the appropriateness the artist’s choices, with regard to shades of white, black and grey, seem carefully meditated.
As the artist points out, “the use of the actor’s body and physical presence as a narrative means of expression are one of the main characteristics of Poor Theatre”, which calls for “scenery stripped of descriptive decoration”, and revolves around the actor’s body. This was what he wanted to re-examine, or to put back “on stage” again. It is sufficient return to the source, and specifically to “Training Grotowsky’s “Laboratorium” from Wrozlaw, 1972”, one of the many visual documentaries from which the artist has drawn, in order to have a concrete, or tactile perception of the form. From this material – beautiful, hypnotic – Miliani has skilfully extrapolated movements fraught with refinement, specifically in the performer’s hands and arms that seem to recall the wings of a butterfly that have been fixed – or “stopped” by the artist, in another of his works that can be found in the room that serves as a passage to the upper floor.
Simultaneously, in the central room of the gallery, the artist presents a work composed of three photographs containing photograms that in an almost abstract way show a ball moving in front of a theatre curtain. Here Miliani wants to underline how the sequential order of the photographs will change daily and will “generate real intuitive movement that will not be perceivable without some waiting”
A true climax of the exhibition is reached in four works that are composed of sheets of glass leaning vertically against the wall and on the floor that, by simply overlapping, hold two photographs that are placed next to each other: one represents the performer, the other is taken from an historical book. Someone else made these images: he is aware that he has made an absolutely personal choice in which artifice is present. Furthermore, Jacopo Miliani has emphasised how “historical documentation and theatrical artifice encounter one another, in the search for a possible random connection that reflects the ties between two types of social convention: History and the Theatre”. (Valentina Bucco)

JACOPO MILIANI born in Florence 1979.

STUDIES: 2003 BA Disciplines of Art D.A.M.S, University of Bologna; 2006 MA Fine Art Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London; 2007 Advanced Course for Visual Art, Tutor: Joan Jonas, Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como; 2009 Fondazione Spinola Banna per l’Arte, Tutor: Peter Friedl.
AWARDS: 2008 D.E.M.O, GAI, Turin; Pagine bianche d’autore 2008, Tuscany selection; 2005 Movin’Up, GAI Young Italian Artist Prize, Turin.
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE/WORKSHOPS: 2008-2009 Platform Garanti, Istanbul; 2005 Residence Cantiere Video Arte, Associazione Promere, San Quirico; Workshop of Visual Arts directed by Cesare Pietroiusti and René Gabi, IUAV, Venice; 2000 Workshop with Robin Arthur (Forced Entertainment, UK) Teatro della Polvere, Bologna.
EXHIBITIONS/SOLO SHOW: 2010 Rehearsal for an Image, Studio Dabbeni, Lugano; Parallel words, irrelevant worlds, Project 38, Lucca; 2009 Evet…Evet…, MARS, Milan; 2008 Italian Wave, Artissima, Turin; 2008 The Guest, Brown, Milan; 2007 Battersea Art Centre, London.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS: 2010 Verbo Festival, San Paolo, Brazil; Reading Room, Curators: Cecilia Canziani Ilaria Gianni, Nomas Foundation, Rome; Perfect Courses and Shimmering Obstacles Curator: Yane Calovski, Tate Britain, London; Biennal of Artist Book, Curator: Giorgio Maffei, Spoleto; Loop Festival, Barcelona; OuUnPo, Macro Roma; 2009 Thanksgiving, Peep-hole, Milan; Mitomania y identidad, Curators: Javier Duero and Alicia Jiménez, CCAI, Gijon; The Buffer Zone, Curators: Cecilia Canziani, Lexi Eberspacher, American Academy, Rome; La difference, Curator: Vincent Verlé, CAB Centre d’Art Bastille, Grenoble; Qui e altrove, Curators: Francesca Referza, Francesco Poli, Castelbasso (TE);Nothing but the Show, Curator. Alessio Ascari, Castello Sforzesco, Milan; Senza rete, Curators: Caroline Corbetta, Lorenzo Benedetti, Santo Spirito in Saxia, Rome; Firenze Sommersa. Rotte Metropolitane, Curator: Giacomo Bazzani, Villa Romana, Florence; Swiss Cube #2, Curator: Salvatore Lacagnina, Swiss Institute, Rome; Playlist, Curator: Marta Casati, Neon, Bologna; 2008 Versus, Curator: Francesca Referza, Velan Centre, Turin; Per adesso noi siamo qua, Curator: Lorenzo Bruni, Villa Roman, Florence; Video Year Book, Curator: Renato Barilli, Bologna (screening); Il rimedio perfetto, Curator Marco Tagliafierro, Galleria Riccardo Crespi, Milan; Video Act, Curator: Federica Matelli, GlogauART, Berlin; Biennial of Young Artist from Mediterranean Countries, Bari; Continuum Electronica, Curator: Federica Matelli in collaboration with ZKM, Estruch, Barcelona; Unfair Fair, Curators: Cecilia Canziani, Vincent Honoré, Loto Arte, Roma; Loop Art Fair, Barcelona; Les Rencontres Internationeles, El Aguila, Madrid (screening); It’s A Sin: Films and Inspirations of Derek Jarman (Serpentine Gallery Public Programme), Curators: Tina Keane, The Gate Cinema, London (screening); Videoit, Curators: Mario Gorni, Salvatore Lacagnina, Francesco Berardinelli, Francesco Poli, different locations (screening); 2007 Invisible Miracles, Curators: Anna Daneri and Roberto Pinto, Careof, Milan; Les Rencontres Internationales, different locations, Paris (screening); As it screams just please love me Curators: Caterina Riva, Francesco Pedraglio, Pieternel Vermmontel, FormContent, London; New Entry, Curator: Chiara Agnello, Careof, Milan; 4x1, VillaNuts Gallery, The Hague; Surrealist ball, Curator: Rosie Cooper, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Time in Jazz, Curator: Lia Turtas, Casa Melloni, Sassari; The Drawing Cabinet, Galerie Marc de Puechredon, Basel; All my love for you, a project by Jacopo Miliani, Galleria Enrico Fornello, Prato; 2006 Video Heroes, Curator: Javier Duero, Centro de Arte Gallego, Vigo; Kick the trash, Curator: Javier Duero, Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid; MA Fine Art Degree Show, Central Saint Martins College, London; Making Love to my Ego, Curator: Sophia Crilly, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester; Coincidenze Martin Creed, Koo-Jeong-A, Jacopo Miliani, Nedko Solakov, Curator: Lorenzo Bruni, Via Nuova, Florence; Knee-Jerk, Curator: Christer Lundhal, Byam Shaw, London; Athens Video Festival, different locations, Athens; Quick and Dirty, Curator: Jeremy Akerman, Bargehouse, London; Rotte metropolitane, Curator: Lorenzo Bruni, SEVS, Florence; Traffic Zone, Curator: Lorenzo Bruni, Galleria Civica, Trento; 2005 LOOP Art Fair, Hotel Sants, Barcelona; Observatori 05, Curator: Javier Duero, Museo de la Ciencia, Valencia; The last Festival, Curator: Piersandra Di Matteo, Galleria Montevergini, Siracusa; Contemporanea’05, Curator: Edoardo Donatini, Cantieri Culturali,Prato; VideoMix Geometrias del deseo, Curator: Javier Duero, La Casa Encendida, Madrid (screening); Murart, Curators: Francesca Pagliuca and Elvira Vannini, Club 74, Bologna; However, Whatever, Qualunque, Comunque, Curators: Cesare Pietroiusti and Angela Vettese, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice; 2004 BAC 04!, 5th International Festival of Barcelona Contemporary Art, Curators: Gigi Riveros and Juanjo Fernandez, CCCB, Barcelona; Living Room Curator: Javier Duero, Coldcreation Gallery, Barcelona.
LECTURES: 2009 From Behind, with Maria Cristina Giusti, Rolling Stone Convention, Santo Spirito in Saxia, Rome; Hallucination, Illusion and Falsification, Platform Garanti, Istanbul; 2008 Do you believe in magic? (workshop), Platform Garanti, Istanbul