Signs, Surfaces and the Instant: An Encounter by n + n Corsino and Aurora Museum
Venue: Aurora Museum
Exhibition: 24 May to 27 July 2014
Opening: Friday, 23 May 2014 at 5:00 pm
On the 23rd of May 2014, the Aurora Museum of Shanghai will inaugurate Signs, surfaces and the instant, an exhibition featuring the work of French artists, choreographers and researchers Nicole Corsino and Norbert Corsino, artistically known as n + n Corsino.
The artistic duo explores the kinetics of bodies and landscapes, connecting dance and technology in installations where choreographic movements can be mapped, rendered through and interact with calligraphy and graphic patterns. The body, its motion or even its absence, is often at the core of their artistic practice and in their artworks, which n + n Corsino define as choreographic fictions, dance performances are transposed to the virtual realm, presented in the form of interactive choreographic navigations.
The exhibition will be presented in the framework of the France/Chine 50 and Festival Croisements, the biggest French cultural festival organized outside of France, as well as the most important foreign festival in China. Created after the Franco-Chinese crossed cultural years (2003-2005) upon the demand of both the French and the Chinese President, Croisements will celebrate in 2014 its 9th edition.
In line with a practice that interlaces local cultural elements and their artistic vision and through the cultural mediation and curatorial approach of Davide Quadrio, Director of Arthub, n + n Corsino will premiere on this occasion new creation, specifically inspired by the antiques collection of the Aurora Museum.
For the new installation the artists have been playing with one of the pivotal graphic patterns representing the beginning of Chinese art history, a stylized dragon from which stemmed all the possible ornaments we can find in antique jades, as well as in other decorative elements.
Contextualized within previous works, this site-specific creation will complete a travel of signs and calligraphy from India to China, reaching out and bridging the two cultures by exploring their possible interactions through time.
Bangalore Fictions, a piece presented and premiered in Bangalore and Delhi in March 2013, as part of the French Festival Bonjour India, will be amongst the works featured in the show together with Shanghai II, produced and first performed in Shanghai 2004 as part of the wider project Amorces in Times. Referring to what Confucius calls the infinitesimal beginning, Amorces in Times defines the instant that precedes the motion, the “pre-movement” of everything that can budge at a given instant. It is a barely perceptible beginning of acceleration, but a decisive moment that requires absorption and attention.
Partners:
Nicole Corsino and Norbert Corsino: n + n Corsino’s works and installations have been presented in international venues both in Asia and in Europe. In 2012 they were featured at the Cannes International Dance Biennal and they were named associated artists at the Centre des Arts, Enghien-les-Bains. Their work Extérieur jour [Day Exterior] was produced as part of the programme of events for Marseille-Provence European Capital of Culture 2013. Nicole Corsino and Norbert Corsino were conferred with the title of Chevaliers des Arts et des Lettres (a French national recognition) in 2002. In 2007, they were awarded with the CMA-CGM Foundation Prize. Between 2007 and 2009 they served as artistic directors of ArsNumerica, the European Centre for Digital Arts. In 2013, n + n Corsino have launched scene 44, a Marseille based platform devoted to the international production of choreographic creations and digital innovation. Read more about the duo on their website here.
Aurora Museum: The vast and historically significant antiques collection housed by the Aurora Museum – which includes pottery, porcelain, jades and Buddhist sculptures – was created in over 40 years by collector Yung Tai Chen, the Chairman of the Taiwanese Aurora Group. Located in the financial hub of Pudong, the building that hosts the institution was designed by the internationally renowned architect Tadao Ando. In 2016, the Aurora Museum will inaugurate a new section devoted to Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture. The new space will be inspired by the antiques Museum building project by Tadao Ando, who will also design the Contemporary wing.
Davide Quadrio: Davide is a China based producer and curator. He founded and directed for a decade the first not-for-profit independent creative lab in Shanghai, Bizart Art Center, as a platform to foster the local contemporary art scene. In 2007, Quadrio created Arthub Asia, a production and curatorial proxy active in Asia and worldwide. He is currently hosted by Shanghai Visual Art Institute, Fudan University, and he is part of the Scientific Committee of PAC, Pavilion of Contemporary Art of Milan as well as the international projects manager of Scene 44, in Marseille.
Concept and Direction: n + n Corsino
Curator: Davide Quadrio
Co-curator: Fritz Huang
Writer: Claudine Galea
Calligrapher: Sumei Tang
2D/3D Scenographic Designer: Nicolas Ballu
Software Developer: Samuel Toulouse
Music Composer: Jacques Diennet
Lighting Designer: Pascale Bongiovanni
Technical Manager: Gilles Marchesi
An event by Aurora Museum, Arthub and Shanghai International Culture Association
Supported by:
French General Consulate in Shanghai
French Institute in China
Festival Croisements
Institut Francais de China
City of Marseille
Scene 44
Aurora Plaza
