GIOVANNI OZZOLA
RECOLLECTION IN TIME
12.12.2009 / 26.03.2010

Recollection in Time is a moment that we give ourselves to think over and remember the past. From this concept a selection of works that significantly impact the notion of growth. Each unrepeatable experience becomes an icon, it separates from history to turn into a “landmark” and represents it: I considered the exhibition area as a single space even if it is divided in a sector visible to everyone (where you can find the “causes”) and in a more intimate sector where the thoughts are.

Photographs
Light is always the longing wish, its generator (the sun) which always shows itself in a different way.
I like to think of light as substance, hence a light that you can touch and it is affected by events. This substance is spotted and marked as clay; it carries the traces of a past that continues to change.
A collection of moments which can reduce and expand in time depending on either the observing eye that is looking at them, or rather the human being’s sensibility at that time. The photos are taken in very distinct times of the year, from the sunny winter mornings to the blue and clear spring skies: it is “just” the sun always framed in the same way, a simple shot which contains its own magnificence. They represent a longing to look forward, a direction to follow.

Video
The sunrise and the sunset are the subjects of the videos, two videos made of light. The sunrise, shot from a patio over a period of 4 hours (later compacted into 1 minute and 20 seconds), shows the image’s effort to appear from the darkness, the sensuality and the calm of discovery and the dazzling beginning of the day.
During the night everything is blended and the elements become clear only through light to then disappear in a blinding brightness.
The sunset develops different implications, it is a reflection over perception and visual sensibility. A daily event becomes focused and it is easily visible by even the most shortsighted looks …with all its power. Simple events which, because of their immutability, hide their magnificence and strength to the non diligent.

Cinema
I remember the first time I saw a movie of Pier Paolo Pasolini. It was an evening at some friends’ house, we were sixteen or seventeen, we had appreciated that what we were looking for was unavailable. That unframed and unordinary look existed: we only had to look for it.
Pasolini in “Ricotta”, a timeless tiny gem, presents the clear picture of misery and abundance. In a movie about the drying up of culture and the enduring of myth, we found the culture that we despised, that didn’t belong to us and from which we were running away. The strength comes from the roots, without fear of the provincialism which makes most unaware of their history …and without history we are nobody.

Text by Giovanni Ozzola







Biography

Born 1982 in Firenze (IT).
Lives and works in Italy.

Website: www.giovanniozzola.com







On Screening:
Alba (video, 1’20”, 2009)
Superficiale - Under my skin (video, 2’13”, 2009)

Selected Films:
Il Sorpasso (Dino Risi 1962)
Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro... (Lina Wertmüller 1974)
Il fiore delle mille e una notte (Pier Paolo Pasolini 1974)


 ---


Curated by Marco Nember.
Developed in collaboration with
the Italian Institute of Culture in
Amsterdam between May 2009
and September 2013.