At Squero San Trovaso in Venice BLACK SWALLOW-V14 by Cristiano Carotti

The Umbrian artist’s new site-specific installation is a representation of the characteristic Venetian  watercraft. 11 metres long, armoured and dominated by a cannon, it sets out to symbolically protect the ethics of art by opposing the assault of market rule and to denounce the indiscriminate use of violence in today’s society.

Cristiano Carotti (Terni, 1981) presents Black Swallow-V14, his new site-specific public installation, just as the Venice Biennale leaves the starting blocks.

From 9 May to 9 July 2015, Squero San Trovaso in Venice will provide the backdrop for an enormous 11-metre-long, armed and armoured gondola dominated by a cannon. At the same time, some preliminary studies and small works inspired by Black Swallow-V14 will be displayed in the nearby El Magazen dell’Arte venue.

The initiative, curated by Lorenzo Respi and organized by Galleria Al Blu di Prussia and All Around Art, in collaboration with El Magazen dell’Arte and the RO.SA.M. cultural association, is the first of the three events ideally rounding off Cristiano Carotti’s current research path. Undertaken in 2012 on occasion of his “Waterloove” solo exhibition at the Al Blu di Prussia gallery in Naples, it will be concluded with a final show in the same venue at the year end.

Black Swallow-V14 is the wreck of an old Venetian gondola, which the artist has restored and transformed into an armoured and ironclad war vessel, its hull showing the unmistakable marks of battle and the stubborn resistance to a world that wants to destroy it. It is the vulgarity of contemporary society that contaminates the passions and wipes out ideals, trying to sink the gondola that protects artistic ethics as it stands up to the assault of market rule and denounces the indiscriminate use of violence in today’s society.

Narcissism, ignorance and superficiality naturally lead many to display frivolity, to obsessively search for the latest scoop, to seek personal interest and look to the “non” logic of omertà, to make a spectacle of the most intimate emotions and strive for the famous fifteen minutes of fame proclaimed by Andy Warhol.

“And what is happening to art? What are the purported art lovers doing for art?” Cristiano Carotti wonders. “Of course loving also means finding a compromise, but not in the name of money, or, even worse, spectacle. The armoured gondola is a genetic mutation of the object and the value it holds for its times.”

“Cristiano Carotti’s art is a vision. With impeccable timing,” the curator Lorenzo Respi underlines, “his installation gives out a cry of suffering, in an emblematic representation of the geopolitical crisis currently affecting Italy and Europe in its relationship with the sea. The gondola, ancient, romantic symbol of the queen of the cities of the arts, is combined with a tank to remind us that, beyond its canals, Venice sailed out and ruled the seas.”

In the people’s minds, the Venetian gondola is an undisputed icon of love, the archetype of a golden age of passion, which Black Swallow-V14 revives with its provocative armour. A picture-postcard image, the gondola regains its traditional value and the explosive force of loving passion, while equipping and arming itself to fight on the battlefield of the Venice 2015 Biennale Art Exhibition.

Black Swallow-V14 has been made with the technical aid of BAB LAB. The event’s technical sponsors are CO.I.MONT. Terni and Gruppo Trasporti Bernardini Terni.

The Bird Man by Marco Agostinelli will also be installed at Squero San Trovaso at the same time.

A Short Biography

Cristiano Carotti is an Umbrian artist born in Terni in 1981. His work ranges from canvas to digital media, from paper to video animations and sculpture. He studied Italian painting at the Terni Academy of Fine Arts. 

After his first solo exhibition at Galleria Canovaccio in Terni, curated by Francesco Santaniello, he was among the finalists in the Italian Factory 2010 Award. He exhibited in Berlin for the Human&Gods exhibition at the Infantellina Contemporary, and Kunst Magazine Berlin published his work "The Birth of Venus at Burning Hotel".

At the end of 2010 he started to work with Galleria il Gianicolo. In 2011 he held his second solo at the Galleria Mio Mao in Perugia entitled "Sospesi tra il circo e la notte" (Suspended between the Circus and the Night). Again in 2011, he was selected by Vittorio Sgarbi and Gianluca Marziani for the Italy/Umbria Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale. 

"Remember the 5th of November" is the title that the Mondo Bizzarro Gallery in Rome chose to present the triple solo show with exhibitions by Cristiano Carotti, Michele Guidarini and Blue&Joy. 2012 began with his participation in the “Hasta la Muerte - Fino alla Morte” (Until Death) group exhibition curated by Alberto Zanchetta, showing prior to the Affordable Art Fair in Milan and then at Galleria Mio Mao in Perugia. He made the site-specific installation “Carte da Favola” for the “Favola” play by Filippo Timi (in Italian the title is a play on the words carte da tavola (playing cards) and the name of the show “Favola” (fairytale)) at Teatro Franco Parenti in Milan. In June Gianluca Marziani curated the “+50” exhibition for the fiftieth anniversary of the historic exhibition in Spoleto “Sculture in Città” (Sculptures in the City), choosing the site-specific project "Davide e Golia" (David and Goliath) by Carotti, Pinchi and Deflorio for Piazza della Libertà. In October he was invited to take part in the Surreality Show, Roma Officina 468, curated by Julie Kogler and Sofia F. Miccichè. In 2013 Carotti spawned a new exhibition project which started with two solo shows: “Waterloove” at the Blu di Prussia in Naples and “Nothing but the Rainbows” at the Canovaccio in Terni; he exhibited at Officina delle Zattere in Venice for the second Surreality Show.

He was among the artists asked to take part in the project devised and promoted by Manuel Agnelli and the band Afterhours “Hai Paura del Buio?” (Are You Afraid of the Dark? Turin, Traffic Festival - Rome, Auditorium Parco della Musica - Milan, Alcatraz). In 2014, along with Franko B, he took part in the exhibition project “Do Not Follow the White Rabbit!” curated by Lorenzo Respi and presented at the second SetUp Art Fair in Bologna. He lives and works between Terni and Rome. 

Cristiano Carotti. Black Swallow V-14

Venice, Squero San Trovaso (Dorsoduro 1097)

9 May - 9 July 2015

cristianocarotti.com