Sandra Binion and Lou Mallozzi
RD
(Rappaccini’s Daughter)
Curated by: Spela Zidar
Opening June 12th, from 5 to 8 PM
June 12-July 11
Open Mo-Thur 10am-2pm, Fri 4-7pm
LdM Gallery, Via de’ Pucci 4
Free Entrance
About RD
“RD” is a multimedia project by artists Sandra Binion and Lou Mallozzi. The exhibit is inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1844 short story “Rappaccini’s Daughter.” Hawthorne tells the story of Beatrice, the daughter of a mad scientist Giacomo Rappaccini who cultivates a garden of exotic and poisonous plants. As a result of caring for the garden, Beatrice becomes poisonous to the touch, finding herself akin to Persephone and Hades with her father Giacomo. She and a young student, Giovanni, fall into a tragic romance, where she eventually turns Giovanni poisonous as well. The story deals with the tensions of desire and order, the male anxiety towards the female body, and fear of unchecked scientific experimentation. In the exhibition “RD,” the artists interpret this story to become a living site for these themes through writing, images, gestures, sound, surfaces, etc.
“RD” seeks to explore one’s relationship with the nature of a garden and the man-made and natural duality inherent within the space. What are the fact and fiction that emerge with the garden? How does one approach the garden through their individual path, senses, and interpretations? The artists approach the garden’s materiality, structure, and history through their informed senses and minds to create works that emerge from their experiences.
About the Artists:
Sandra Binion is an interdisciplinary artist whose work often takes the form of multimedia installations based on literary or historical themes and references. Her work encompasses performances, installations, process-based artworks, photographs, and paintings that embrace a choreography of the everyday. She has exhibited and performed in the US, Europe, and Japan at venues including the Musée d’Orsay Paris, Kyoto City University of the Arts, Maison de George Sand, Musée Flaubert Rouen, Hyde Park Art Center Chicago, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Kunstraum Stuttgart, Institut Unzeit Berlin, and many others.
Lou Mallozzi is an interdisciplinary artist and educator in Chicago. He dismantles and reconstitutes gesture, sound, image, and language to poetically destabilize our relationships with the familiar through performances, installations, interventions, fixed media works, improvised music, drawings, and collaborations. His work has been exhibited and performed in many venues in the US and Europe, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Smart Museum at the University of Chicago, The Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago and the Italian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, TUBE Audio Art Series in Munich, Radiorevolten Festival in Halle, Constellation in Chicago, and many others.
Events for LdM students:
During the exhibition LdM students and other spectators will be able to deepen their experience of the exhibition paricipating to a special event organized in collaboration with Sistema Museale di Firenze. Before the visit to the show, the students will have a chance to visit Giardino dei Semplici the Florentine botanical gardens, the third oldest botanical gardens in Italy. They will be accompanied by a the artist and a professional guide. After the visit the students will be welcomed in the LdM Gallery, just five minutes walk from the gardens, visit the exhibition and chat with the artists over an aperitivo.
Guided tour Summer 1: Thursday June 18th at 10:30 am. Botanical Gardens Giardino dei Semplici, Via Miheli 3 and LdM Gallery, Via de’Pucci 4. Book your spot through Activities Office!
The LdM Gallery is a project by Istituto Lorenzo de’ Medici, an interdisciplinary space where academic research and artistic experimentation meet within a professional setting.