11.05.2011

Fountain Show at Dispari & Dispari, Italy

 Water has a great esoteric significance as the source of life. It is the matrix in the form of amniotic fluid and primordial water that preserves, and is the beginning of life. In ancient cosmologies water, as a primordial component, is a vital principle understood as a means of regeneration".

What makes the fountains so special? Their style or the water flowing through them? ‘Fountain Show’, Reggio Emilia, presents the work of 11 internationally renowned artists, invited by dispari&dispari project to build a fountain. This is not exactly a themed group show, but rather a work in progress that that will define the very concept of the exhibition during the opening days. ‘Fountain Show’ is a project that has developed over several months through conversations with the invited artists, who have been asked to reflect on the possible styles and values, perhaps even Utopian, of fountains in contemporary society. - Steven Claydon, Flavio Favelli, Peter Goi, Brian Griffith, Thomas Kilpper, Erik Van Lieshout, Katrin Plavcak, Cullinan Richards, Patrick Tuttofuoco, Gavin Turk, Alterazioni Video and Klaus Weber.

This device [that of a fountain], which has historically accompanied humanity in all its’ progress, has undergone a constant process of transformation that slowly changes its’ form and valor in a continuous alteration of its’ roles. For example between its’ possible social function, collecting and distributing water, as architectural function or as design element throughout a city. The presented works, many of them made especially for the exhibition, will be installed in the exhibitions’ space - as if an outdoor garden, and will welcome and entertain the audience with fantastic water games and peculiar sounds. Hair Fountains, organic sculptures, installation, video installation, paintings and drawings are just some of the fountains both real and not real that are at the heart of the exhibition.

The exhibition Fountain Show opens the 7th May and will be open to the public until September 18, 2011.

For more information about times and opening days please visit www.dispariedispari.org