Equorea (of seas, ice, clouds and other waters) curated by Giulia Bortoluzzi

BUILDINGBOX presents Equorea (of seas, ice, clouds and other waters), an exhibition project curated by #giuliabortoluzzi. Twelve Italian contemporary artists have been invited to explore the topic of water in twelve monthly solo shows in 2023, scheduled in a sequence that follows the lunar calendar. 

The title references Eugenio Montale's poem Falsetto (1923), published in the collection Ossi di Seppia (1925). The poem revolves around a girl called Esterina, described as an ocean creature (“equorea creatura”), and frames the sea as a metaphor for life and the wonder of living without worrying about the future: "The power that tempers you is water, in water you find and renew yourself." Montale's work picks up on the way we habitually associate water with life, a notion echoed by Mircea Eliade in A History of Religious Ideas (1949), which describes it as the total of all "virtualities", the matrix for all potential life, the foundation of the whole world. Water is at the origin of all cosmic manifestation, symbolizing the primordial substance from which all 
forms arise, and to which they return, by regression or cataclysm. Water lies at the beginning and end of every historical or cosmic cycle. It will always exist, and never be alone, because it is germinative, encompassing the virtualities of all forms in its own undivided unity. In cosmogony, mythology, ritual, and iconography, water performs the same function: it precedes all forms and sustains all of creation. A symbol of life, it gives universal becoming a cyclical structure.

Following the cyclical pattern of the astronomical tides (which occur when the Moon, Earth and Sun are in alignment), at each full moon in the year 2023, #buildingbox will play host to the work of twelve Italian contemporary artists who have been asked to explore the theme of water: Ludovico Bomben (Pordenone, 1982), Jaya Cozzani (Mumbai/Kanchipuram, 1982), Barbara De Ponti (Milano, 1975), Gaspare (Terlizzi, 1983), Michele Guido (Aradeo, 1976), Silvia Mariotti (Fano, 1980), Fabio Marullo (Catania, 1973), Elena Mazzi (Reggio Emilia, 1984), Ignazio Mortellaro (Palermo, 1978), Fabio Roncato (Rimini, 1982), Michele Spanghero (Gorizia, 1979), Virginia Zanetti (Fiesole, 1981). 

The works presented in Equorea (of seas, ice, clouds and other waters) are site-specific (some are being exhibited for the first time, others are reworkings of previous pieces) and conceive of water as an emblem of all natural elements, and more generally as a form of life and creative potential. As a topic, water not only intrigues and inspires, but also elicits specific reflections on the future of our planet. Indeed, the life of all organisms on Earth depends on the presence of water and is shaped by its mutations: when it deteriorates, life becomes unsustainable.

There is as yet no proven scientific explanation of the origin of water on our planet. Whether generated by comets or meteorites crashing to earth, or volcanic eruptions in distant millennia, in the collective imagination it is associated with the mythological moment of creation, which contains the potential existence of all forms of life. Its presence on earth is measured in eons, a time-frame that is difficult for us to grasp and that we can only attempt to imagine, for example by looking at the images that nature has preserved for millions of years, such as the fossils in the blue clays explored by Barbara De Ponti (Milan, 1975), who opens the series in January 2023. To imagine this ancient time on Earth and the origin of the compounds as they formed and changed, exploring the realm of biology, mycology and entomology enables us to observe the phenomena that govern the existence of living beings. Fabio Marullo (Catania, 1973), whose work will be presented in February 2023, studies organisms and attempts to capture their forms as they undergo processes of transformation. And the variety of species that inhabit the Earth can never be taken for granted: just think of red coral, for example -tiny sac-shaped animals that live in enormous colonies and capture the calcium carbonate in the water to construct a collective, branching, mineral skeleton. In the month of March, Michele Guido (Aradeo, 1976), examines the phenomenon of coral bleaching, which puts these organisms at risk, due to CO2 emissions in the air altering the pH of the oceans.

The work by Elena Mazzi (Reggio Emilia, 1984), is also extremely topical. Her project, presented in April, is inspired by recent political and economic developments triggered by climate change, and in particular the new trade route - the so-called Polar Silk Road - being planned in the Arctic thanks to the melting of the icecaps, which would link Europe, Russia and China.

Though great attention is devoted to finding new routes across the seas, it is said that as yet we have only managed to explore 5% of the ocean floor: the other 95% therefore remains a mystery. The project that Silvia Mariotti (Fano, 1980) will be presenting in May springs from musings on the unknown, which in her photographic practice manifests itself in the process of transformation and the transition from a latent to a definitive image.

This idea of metamorphosis also characterizes the installation by Gaspare (Terlizzi, 1983), on in the month of June. The focus here is on changes of state: matter being destroyed and regenerated. This notion draws on a philosophical current inspired by the ideas of Heraclitus, who believed that fire was the primordial transforming agent that gave rise to water, which in turn brought the earth to life, before returning to fire, in an eternal cycle