Alberto Tadiello
Viafarini, Milan, Italy
Independent exhibition space Viafarini has held a special position in Italian contemporary art for years, many well-known artists having first shown their work there. In April the institution will move to a new location, while an artist-in-residence programme has been initiated in the former exhibition space. Alberto Tadiello, the programme’s first resident artist, is ending his stay with an exhibition of three new works.
The dominant work in the gallery, Pws 1200 IPC KH3116 (all works 2008), consists of two circular saws. Confounding their everyday use, the DIY gadgets are bolted to the wall in a formalizing way (the title is taken from the power tools’ technical product names). Cables attached to the wheels span the length of the space, connecting to the wall on the other side – when turned on, the tools cause the cables to oscillate rapidly. In its ‘off’ state, with the lingering memory of previously heard noise and unstable movement, the work is especially strong.
The other two works, Switch_01 and Switch_02, are also simple arrangements of everyday technical devices. In Switch_01, two pairs of speakers are arranged in a kind of mirror image on the floor, and are powered via a transformer (without an amplifier) to produce a sound. The transformer reacts to a surge of high voltage in the speakers and blocks the current, which is then immediately re-released. The viewer experiences a constant switching-on and switching-off, made audible in the rhythms produced from the speakers. Due to the slightly elevated voltage, this apparently endless cycle will destroy the speakers at an undetermined point in the future.
Tadiello conducts a trial and error procedure within a conceptual framework, whereby repeated attempts finally give way to a precise arrangement in which the tools function autonomously. The artist appears to withdraw, acting only indirectly; painterly, sculptural and gestural aspects are not developed by hand, but rather in translation through technology – just as circular saws are actually human arm prosthetics.
In Pws 1200 IPC KH3116, the figure of the cables can be read as a momentary, spatial drawing, while the arrangement and sound sequence of the Switch pieces have something of the development of Minimalism’s concrete aspects. Pws 1200 IPC KH3116 consists of two identical machines mounted symmetrically; its motion effect is realized via a reflection on the opposing wall. In the Switch pieces, circuits generate an electronic and acoustic ping-pong effect, demonstrated by an arrangement of what appears to be four speakers interacting in pairs. In his work Tadiello tests a form of visualization by way of illustration, but for now only allows himself to do so indirectly.
Translated by Amy Patton
Frank Boehm
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