INTRO in its original Latin form means inwardly. The urge to unravel the contents of a box, of a container, of anything that is closed from the inside, is probably one of the most strong characteristics of humanity. How long did Pandora last without opening the box? Curiosity. Curiosity and the irresistible urge for understanding and knowledge are the motor of human evolution, much more than mere survival. The works of the two Italian artists Manuela Toselli and Aqua Aura selected for this exhibition are revealing the inwardly reflections these artists made, each in his or her own way, on existence, co-existence, ecology, psychology, soul expansions, and their contrast with modern society, with the resulting inevitable paradoxes.

Aqua Aura is a multimedia artist in which the mixture of different technological mediums is combined to give us a cold, cynical vision of the universe, but at the same time extremely poetical and aesthetic.
The series MUSEUM HIGHLIGHTS included in this show can be seen as his ecological warning and statement. Mixing different technologies and mediums, Aqua Aura creates a series of containers reminding us of some of the contemporary art spaces and museum born out the renovation of industrial archeological sites.  By revealing Nature as being the content of these “museums”, or “collectors warehouses”, the statement as much as the warning comes out loud and clear: Nature should be celebrated as the Supreme Artist, but if we keep being so carefree toward it, we can expect Museums will be the only places future humans will be able to see some.  From this the inevitable questions: what are we without the rest of nature? If we keep failing to integrate with our environment, what future awaits us?
In Aqua Aura’s Museum Highlights the only signs of humanity are the spaces, but of humans there are no traces. Not a molecule, not a virus left behind, which you could find in his previous series The Craft and Scintillation. This time the Italian artist is giving us the possible result of our own folly, and no signs of the survival of our species. Time to reflect.

Human emotions and psychology are instead the heart beating under Manuela Toselli’s creations.  As the Moires of Greek mythology controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal and immortal from birth to death, Manuela Toselli by braiding the silk’s strings she uses for her art brings to light her hidden inward emotions. Her personal emotivity and psychology is transformed by the repetitive gesturality of braiding – almost a meditative action – elevating her personal interiority to mirror for universal sentiments, summarised and shown for external viewing. Even the symbolic choice of using silk for Manuela Toselli is not casual: not only the preciousness of the material underlines the innate preciousness hidden in every soul, but also the sacrifice of the silkworm -fundamental for silk production- is the perfect metaphor for the sacrifice we have to make during any procedure involving soul (or psyche) elevation and expansion.  The artist proposes for this exhibition some geometric works (rigid works, as she defines them), where the maximum synthesis denotes extreme rationality. Everything has a different aspect, that attracts or rejects us, but it’s actually inside each of us. We can finally observe and control it, without being run over. Hence the awareness and understanding. What is other than us can be seen, we become external spectators of ourselves and here we find ourselves in our own complexity.

Read the interviews with our artists by clicking on their names : Aqua Aura – Manuela Toselli