HSF by Montrasioarte presents NOt here, an exhibition with works by:

Ruben Aubrecht Maria Anwander Alessandro Imbriaco Veronica Raimo

Curated by Raffaele Bedarida

Are you there? Can you see me? Really?

(Skype Conversation, November 2010)

The artist might be present, the artwork could be elsewhere, the beholder should be here. NOt here is a reflection on a paradoxical phenomenology of absence in the era of virtual ubiquity. NOt here, features HSF artists in residence Ruben Aubrecht, Maria Anwander, Alessandro Imbriaco, and Veronica Raimo. Curated by Raffaele Bedarida, NOt here presents works realized by the four artists during their stay in New York (September – December 2010).

Ruben Aubrecht activates short circuits between means of communication, their contents and contexts. At HSF, he exhibits an internet-based piece entitled The Sublation of Space: a webcam live-streams the video of a light bulb and wall located in a room of HSF (128 W 121st Street, Harlem, New York). For the duration of the show, anyone with internet access can see the light bulb in real time and switch it on at this link: www.rubenaubrecht.net/new_york.html. By turning the light on you will read a note on the wall, which describes what you have just done. Then, a timer will switch the light off after 15 seconds. The Sublation of Space parodies the basic feeling of presence and satisfaction given by interactive works – here you are able to illuminate a real house in Manhattan, interfere with the life of its inhabitants, and alter, somehow, the most famous urban night view in the world.

Born in Austria in 1980, Aubrecht received an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna with a degree in Computer and Videoart in 2006. He has exhibited in the US and in several countries throughout Europe including Germany, Italy, Spain, Great Britain and Sweden. http://www.rubenaubrecht.net

Maria Anwander is a multimedia artist. She uses art institutions as forums where hierarchical, social, and economic models can be tested and reimagined. At NOt here, she presents The Kiss. The piece is part of a series of artworks and performances, which Anwander has developed since 2004, playing with the link between art institutions and market. The Kiss was given to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York without asking for permission. Anwander entered the museum as a regular visitor and gave an intense French kiss to the wall. Next to the invisible mark of her mouth she fixed a fake label, which simulated the style of a regular MoMA caption, including this text. Kissing in some cultures and religions symbolizes the exchange of souls and powers.

Born in Austria in 1980, Anwander received an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna with a degree in Sculpture, Performance and Media art (2008). She has exhibited in several European countries, in Australia, and the United States. www.maria-anwander.net

Static Drama is a shared project by Alessandro Imbriaco (images) and Veronica Raimo (texts). In a series of photographs, Imbriaco portrays five private backyards at dusk. Painstakingly staged and theatrically lit, these images emphasize the out-of-time quality of twilight’s darker phase. The deserted backyards are only populated by the traces of their inhabitants’ lives. Observed as literary topoi, the environments are represented as archetypal stages of possible domestic dramas. The image of a sixth backyard is turned into a postcard – printed in fifty copies. Available for visitors to take (and mail), the postcards’ backs bear Raimo’s handwritten messages. Fragmentary notes from elsewhere, the texts are simultaneously intimate and distant. Things seem to be happening and involving the writer. But, similarly to Imbriaco’s images, it is the very act of representation through language to create a filter and inevitably instill a sense of distance.

Born in Salerno (Italy) in 1980, Imbriaco currently lives in Rome. He won the 2008 Canon Award for Young Photographers and the 2010 World Press Photo prize. He has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout Europe and widely published in major Italian magazines – such as L’Espresso, Internazionale, Abitare, Io Donna, D di Repubblica. His work is currently distributed by the photographic agency Contrasto. http://www.alessandroimbriaco.com/home.html

Born in Rome in 1978, Raimo graduated in Literature at “La Sapienza” University in Rome and in Cinema Criticism at “Humboldt” University in Berlin. Her first novel, “Il dolore secondo Matteo” was released by the publisher Minimum Fax in 2007. Her poems are collected in the anthology “Fuori dal cielo” (Rome: Empiria, 2007). A second novel is forthcoming with Rizzoli. Raimo contributes regularly to the magazine Rolling Stone Italia and works as a translator for several publishers in Italy.