Mimesis
Posted on June 19 2023
.
.a
Mimesis │ May 22 - June 29, 2023
.
Author Silvia Colombo, Antonio Muratore
.
.
"Mimesis", Greek word for "imitation", designates a human and animal behavior aimed at the manifestation of an aesthetic cohesion - figurative and/or behavioral - with another subject or with the environment from which, through linguistic codes, we grasp a certain degree of adhesion and participation.
Imitation and Mimicry recall instinctive behaviors that act as defense and survival mechanisms, but also respond to the desire to establish a connection and approach each other between living beings and the environment. Man, art and technology make this objective manifest, through the production of visual representations, and even through productions that recall the biological processes of the natural world, and social and psychic dynamics.
Imitation and Mimicry recall instinctive behaviors that act as defense and survival mechanisms, but also respond to the desire to establish a connection and approach each other between living beings and the environment. Man, art and technology make this objective manifest, through the production of visual representations, and even through productions that recall the biological processes of the natural world, and social and psychic dynamics.
.
- A. M.
.
..
Ayaz Yıldız, When I Cry, 2019
.
.
“Aiming at”, “taking on the appearance of”, “looking like”, “imitating something” are all expressions dealing with the word “mimesis”, which is both the red thread and the title of the group exhibition arranged at Spazio Millepiani in Rome.
The thematic reinterpretation - that is either photographic, video or digital - the artists on show are doing here is rather fluid, exactly like the meaning of “mimesis” that has many nuances according to the the use it has been made in a precise context.
This is reflected in the exhibition room, where the topics, and the points of view considered are various and heterogeneous. If, in some cases, the imitation is driven by the need for adaptation in a specific environment, in some others it is the result of a protection mechanism - taking a common stand against ‘the unknown’. In the midst of these two poles, there is a ‘Pandora vase’ filled with anything and everything, where the opposites reconcile (active/ passive, similar/ different,...); there is a visual world that rips it up all around the space.
The thematic reinterpretation - that is either photographic, video or digital - the artists on show are doing here is rather fluid, exactly like the meaning of “mimesis” that has many nuances according to the the use it has been made in a precise context.
This is reflected in the exhibition room, where the topics, and the points of view considered are various and heterogeneous. If, in some cases, the imitation is driven by the need for adaptation in a specific environment, in some others it is the result of a protection mechanism - taking a common stand against ‘the unknown’. In the midst of these two poles, there is a ‘Pandora vase’ filled with anything and everything, where the opposites reconcile (active/ passive, similar/ different,...); there is a visual world that rips it up all around the space.
.
.
Egor Kirillov, Why am I?, 2022
.
.
Mimesis is sometimes presented as a sequence of group scenes where the repetition of the same gestures occurs in a conventional manner, according to a specific regulation or discipline. The military sphere, for example, deals with rites and symbols when it comes to public events such as parades, where certain gestures and movements become a common language within that group of people and for the community it is performed. It is a show, the foundation of a code, but also its public demonstration for the people attending it.
Some other times, the main topic of the exhibition is interpreted as a dancing movement, as the mimetic encounter-clash between human and nature: it can be caused by the instinct for survival (see the topic of the food chain), due to coexistence or to self-destruction and sabotage (ecologically speaking).
Some other times, the main topic of the exhibition is interpreted as a dancing movement, as the mimetic encounter-clash between human and nature: it can be caused by the instinct for survival (see the topic of the food chain), due to coexistence or to self-destruction and sabotage (ecologically speaking).
.
.
Mimesis Exhibition Catalog │Buy it
.
.
In other circumstances, the urban or natural landscape surrounding us simply reflects what we are/ were, or how we perceive ourselves. The environment can even mirror our memories, becoming a nostalgic dust settling inside us. This emotional tension is also reinterpreted through the mythology and the use of design costumes and make up: here, legendary figures halfway between humans and animals (who does imitate who?) are predominant, literally taking the scene.
Going into a slightly different direction, but still relating to man’s ability to adapt, there are the works revolving around the expressive and mimetic ability of professionals such as the actors that, through a steady adaptation of appearances and gestures, tend to imitate the other self.
Going into a slightly different direction, but still relating to man’s ability to adapt, there are the works revolving around the expressive and mimetic ability of professionals such as the actors that, through a steady adaptation of appearances and gestures, tend to imitate the other self.
.
- S. C.
.
.
Egor Kirillov, Where am I?, 2022
.
.
Aseel AlYaqoub, When the Lyre Bird Calls, 2022 │Watch the Video on Vimeo
.
.
Mane Hovhannisyan, Merger, 2021
.
.
Gabriel Vorbon, Whim, 2022
.
.
Yichen Zhou, Pupa, 2022
.
.
Marco Castelli, Catherine Deneuve, 2022
.
.
Azadeh Kiankhah, Long Summer, 2022
.
.
Yusif Zadeh, Ordinary City, 2022
.
.
.
.
.
.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.
MIMESIS
May 22nd - June 29th, 2023
Millepiani - Via N. Odero,13, Rome - IT
linfo@millepiani.eu
+39 06.888.17.620
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Connect