EX MACHINA

EX MACHINA was born with the purpose of highlighting the current need to emerge from the mechanicalness and automatism defining our society. Literally, it means “getting out of the machine” to re-establish contact with nature. However, taking distance from the machine and the automated does not mean denying technological and scientific developments, but using them as tools to become aware of the present time and its complexity.

The subjects addressed during the event are developed in this direction: going back to natural and inner time, the art as wonder at a transforming society and the interaction with the public space by the artists as active elements of the system – and not unrelated to it.

Installation view of All These Sleepless Days

This series is about familiar scents and memories from different times and places. What you see may not be what you see, and the tension between internal feelings and external reality arises.

Stemming from the concept of memories, All These Sleepless Days transcends the reality to express a surreal realm of human fantasies. Reality is deconstructed and reconstructed, favouring a free interpretation. While some places may feel familiar, they are steadily turning into uncanny states related to a dreamlike sphere.

It’s an urge to explore an obsession for lust and beauty. A universe of devotional passion, a moment of unconditional love and the thrill of desire. A sheer sensuous fantasy, an intimate ritual of an imaginary femme fatale who sees right through the fragile armour of men.

Under the bitter-sweet touch of dead flowers, like a secret that unfolds, comes a hint of suspended landscapes, fluid and flexible, which introduce what is to come. Carnal love, fingers that tighten on an empty bed, and the palpable presence of raw desire.

Curated by Rosa Cascone and Lara Gaeta

Ex Convento del Carmine, Scicli (RG)

September 4th – October 4th 2020