For the first time since its creation, the monumental artwork by Yuval Avital that brings together more than 200 artists from around the world will be presented at ESPRONCEDA Institute of Art & Culture on the occasion of LOOP BARCELONA: CITY SCREEN 2021, one of the most important festivals ofvideo art in Europe held in Barcelona every year.
The participatory project HUMAN SIGNS, a global voice and gesture artwork, is conceived by multimedia artist and composer Yuval Avitalin collaboration withStefania Ballone, dancer andchoreographer of Teatro alla Scala.
An art anomaly, not produced or commissioned by any entity, but desired by the artists themselves. Born during the COVID-19 seclusion, interpretingthe viral aesthetic of this unique historicalmoment, HUMAN SIGNS has gathered till now over 200 performers from 50 countries, each proposing adeep individual art-testimony which converges into a powerful expressive multimedia fresco. Yuval’s 12 minutes vocal art testimony, auto-filmed during reclusion, expresses his most intimate state andbecomes a fundamental layer to which all artists relate to as a timeline, musicality and intensityguide (Similar to the Renaissance concept of Cantus Firmus), allowingby this method potentialinfinite interconnections between all participants, creating choirs, Ensembles, Constellations and intimate dialogues. Bringing a deep sense of togetherness, HUMAN SIGNS aims to overcome physicaldistance and isolation therefore,it invites us to explore differently the spaces, languages, andforms of interconnection, as part of a collective reflection on a unique historical time. HUMANSIGNS was presented online as a multimedia artwork through the Living Digital Archiveand offline through LIVE GRID performances in five different cities around the world (New York, San Petersburg,Tel Aviv, Milan, Turin).The exhibition leads the visitors into the HUMAN SIGNS universe through three chapters. The firstelement will be animmersive polyptychof seven parallel projections, in which a constant flow ofthe artists’ auto-filmed performances creates an ideally infinite ensemble. The second element of the exhibition allows visitors tovirtually meet the artistsand listen directly to all thedifferent emotions they experienced while participating in the performance, and to view the LIVEGRID performances that took place in the past months around the world. The third element is anexperience room, in which each visitor is able to engage completely with the artwork as a performerusing their voice and body in dialogue with Yuval Avital’s cantus firmus. The exhibition will also host a new LIVE GRID involving artists from Barcelonain dialogue with the surrounding videos.
Curated by Savina Tarsitano
Opening 13 November, 7.30 PM.
13-22 November 2021
Yuval Avital: Born in Jerusalem in 1977 and living in Milan, Yuval Avital is a multimedia artist, composerand guitarist who develops his works in a variety of spaces, including public places, industrialarchaeologicalsites, theatres and museums, challenging the traditional crystallized categories thatseparate the arts. His exhibitions, performances, immersive installations, total works, large-scale sound”rituals” and concerts involve dancers, contemporary music ensembles, masters of ancient cultures andtraditions, individuals or communities recruited in participatory works, multi-projection video, meditativetactile environments, advanced technological tools, archival materials, collaborations with scientifi institutions, sound sculptures, objects, painting and printed works. Each of Avital’s artworks is a uniqueexperiential, poetic and emotional microcosm with its own identity, fruit of a meticulous research carriedout in a carefully coded language, confronting the recurring themes of archetype and structure; ancestraland current global-era human condition; nature and hybridity; ritual and science. Avital’s sound and visualartworks have been presented in museums, art foundations, venues and art events such as MANIFESTA Biennial,GAM-Torino, MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art Rome; OSTRALEDresden Biennial, La Fabbrica del CioccolatoFoundation in Switzerland, Saint Antoine Church Istanbul, Marino Marini Museum in Florence; National Scienceand Technology Museum “Leonardo da Vinci” in Milan. In 2021, he held his first solo exhibition ETERE in Milan, in September, he participated in both Milan Design Week and Miart with the site-specific installationMIKVE’ (Holy Bath)at Bagni Misterious. He also participated in the exhibitionSocial Impact is an Art n.41one + 1one = 3three, organized by the International School of Geneva in collaboration with Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto ONLUS, Kids Guernica Foundation, Anouk Foundation, Switzerland for UNHCR and theUniversity of Geneva.
Stefania Ballone: She graduated at “Scuola di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala”, from 2000 is part of thetheatre’s corps de ballet, where she participates in all the season’s productions, also interpreting soloroles. While dancing at the Teatroalla Scala, she is constantly involved in choreographic projects fortheatre for several and different movement expressions. She participated at the Positano Prize, 2006 and atthe Venice Biennale Dance Festival in 2007, as a dancer and assistant of the choreographer FrancescoVentriglia. In 2011, she graduated in Modern Literatures at Università degli Studi di Milano, and alsodebuting with her first choreographyPer una voltaat Parma Royal Theatre. In 2014, she graduated with aMaster in Sciences of Theatre and Performing Arts at Università degli Studi di Milano, with a thesis onBallet at the Teatro alla Scala in the Nineties. She curated the artistic show at L’Aia di San Giorgio,Vignacastrisi;Prima che si fa note,pianoforte e danza per resistere albuio, 2020; the choreographyLaValsefor the Teatro alla Scala’s corps the ballet,2017; the direction and choreography for the showtreD:Design, Danza,Disability, Design Triennale, 2016;the choreography of the 30st edition ofMilanoltreFestival, 2016. She participates as dancer inAlter balletto, showShortcutby Emanuela Tagliavia,2020;Dresden Biennale, 2019;Nothing to sell,MacroMuseum, Rome, 2019;Foreign Bodiesby Yuval Avital, FondazioneFabbrica del Cioccolato, Switzerland2017. In 2019, she starts an artistic collaboration with the pianistFrancesco Libetta. Among her prize: Dance Prize, Siracusa; Perugia International Dance Contest; VolterraDance Prize, 2011; Europa in danza Prize,2016; Mads Price for Dance in Salerno, 2019; theChoreographyContest’s final in Sens with her pas de deux Thunders and lightnings, 2018.
CORE EXHIBITION TEAM
Author:Yuval Avital
Curator:Savina Tarsitano
Production: Mark Galvez, Alessia Gervasone and Ovidiu Valeriu Bojour
Exhibition design:Maddalena d’Alfonso
Assistant exhibition design:Sebastian Rodriguez Mendieta
Main installation video editing:Yuval Avital
Additional video editing:Franco Covi
Assistant artistic director:Angelica Mezza
Press office:Elisa Muscatelli and Sara MonariLiaison
Communication:Renata Procópio
Graphics and communication:Kiana Telebpour
HUMAN SIGNS CREATIVE TEAM
Author and Artistic Director:Yuval Avital
Dance Curator and co-artistic director:Stefania Ballone
Coordinators:Angelica Mezza and Elisa Muscatelli
Production:Md’ACommunication:Yalp
Art Direction:LeftLoftVideo conforming,
LIVE GRID editor and cameraman:Franco Covi
Social Media:Mariaelena Maieron
Research:Andrea Carraro and Silvia Cognizzoli
Opening 13 November 7.30 PM13—22 November 2021| 4.00-7.30 PM
ESPRONCEDA Institute of Art & Culture, C. d’Espronceda, 326, Nave 4 y 5, 0802
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