We begin the 2021 AF Gallery Programme with a project by Christchurch-based artist Ivan Lupi (Italy).
Not As Simple As It Sounds invites viewers to participate in an intimate and powerful act of mourning dedicated to the estimated 100000 homosexuals arrested, abused and killed during the Holocaust.
Ivan will be present at the Audio Foundation during much of the exhibition, interacting with the triangles which comprise the installation in the attempt of reaching 100000 touches for 6 days (11- 13 & 18 – 20 February) from 12 – 5pm, and invites viewers to enter the environment engendered by the suspended objects and join them in activating the work. Through participatory activation this installation becomes a memorial device, developing an evolving soundscape with every new note added and ultimately expressing a caring community effort in memory of those persecuted and murdered throughout the 1930s and 1940s.
Stream Ivan’s performances live via AFM, 12 – 5pm NZST
http://www.audiofoundation.org.nz/afm
Opens: Wednesday 10 February, 5.30pm (with refreshments from Liberty Brewing Company)
Special performance: Saturday 13 February, 8pm – More info: http://www.audiofoundation.org.nz/programmes/live-events/stumbling-blocks-berlin-resonances
Workshop: Friday 19 February, 7 – 9pm – More info: http://www.audiofoundation.org.nz/programmes/live-events/ivan-lupi-workshop
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12 – 4pm
Performance days: 11 – 13 & 18 – 20 February, 12 – 5pm.
Closes: Saturday 20 February
Biography:
Ivan Lupi (born 1972, Ferrara, Italy) holds a Masters in Queer Studies in Arts and Culture from the Birmingham University and since 2001 has been an active member of the collective Amae with which he has taken part in various collaborations and exhibitions in Asia, Europe and the United Kingdom exploring the tensions generated in marginalised bodies by heteronormative society.
Ivan Lupi’s work acknowledges the fluidity of otherness and the role of the body within the dynamic of performance art. The artists is interested in the expression of our uniqueness and identity through vulnerability and intimacy. Lupi explores how the artist and the audience come together to perform a caring community.
Since 2016 Lupi started performing solo, showing his work in Switzerland, Lithuania, United States, India, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand. The most relevant events: ‘The Voice and the Lens’ – Whitechapel Art Gallery (London 2014), ‘The Slip of the Tongue’ – Palazzo Grassi Punta della Dogana (Venice 2015), ‘Transformations’ by LiVEART.US – Queens Museum (New York 2016), ‘Visualeyez Annual Festival of Performance art’ – Latitude 53 Art Gallery (Edmonton 2017), ‘Performance Art Week Aotearoa’ (Wellington 2018), ‘Performance Arcade’ (Wellington 2019), ‘Towards the forest’ – The Vivian gallery (Matakana).
Ivan Lupi: http://ivanlupi.com