Chirale N.1: until 31 March, Mochetti, Borondo and Cicero on display at Spazio Chirale

At 6:30 p.m. on 16 March, the activation of the light-interaction devices marked the official opening of the Chirale N.1 Exhibition, dedicated to three great contemporary masters who, with their works, have managed to use light as a material to express their art.

First among them, if only in historical order, is Maurizio Mochetti, who reached his fame as early as the 1970s as an exponent of kinetic art and an interpreter of light — no longer as a metaphysical concept but as simple matter at the artist’s disposal to delimit spaces, shapes and geometries.

A refined and conceptual artist, Mochetti is always able to surprise the viewer with effects of elegant and minimal taste, through the use of cutting-edge, very modern technologies — yet always well hidden and invisible, so as to enhance the magic that arises from his art.

Spazio diviso Due is the work he wanted to dedicate to our event — first realised in 1967 through a play of diffraction of light rays: given a Space, a square of red light divides it into two volumes. Nothing more, nothing less. Entirely redesigned in 2019, the work today divides Spazio Chirale into two through a square of red laser light. New technology, the same timeless concept.

Placed nearby, the modular installation Ubiquitas by Gonzalo Borondo appropriates with its plays of light and transparencies a part of Spazio Chirale, projecting its imaginary movement towards the window.

Made in 2016, the work by the Spanish artist is one of the most significant examples of his most recent experimentation. The technique of acrylic paint scratched on glass plate, while on the one hand betraying this young talent’s origins as a street artist, on the other hand transfigures the pictorial trait, sublimating it to pure essence of light. The effect is enhanced by the electronic interaction of the LED tubes, which accentuates the dynamism of the work.

On the floor below, inside the FabLab, surrounded by numerical-control machines and the tools of the new digital craftsmanship benches, Fabrizio Cicero’s Temporalino catches the eye of even the most distracted visitor with its strongly theatrical light effects.

The diminutive in the name of the work does not do justice to its expressive power. Cicero too uses scratching as a tool to govern light, but this time the artist’s trait works on the gobos of theatrical spotlights. The powerful flashes of stage spots thus become projectors that complete the hand drawing on the wall with the flashes and light effects typical of a thunderstorm. The framework of the spotlights and the connection cables do not disturb but rather enhance the experimental flavour of the entire work.

The exhibition was inaugurated as part of the programme of events for Arduino Day 2019, the world day dedicated to the small great electronic board that has democratised one of the most important technologies of our times, making it accessible and controllable for an entire generation of artists and creatives.

For the occasion — and as an exception to the rule that wants technique, and especially technology, to be invisible within works — the methods and tools of interactive art were for one day the protagonists of the exhibition.

The flow of visitors was extremely high from the morning. At the close of the day, more than 1,200 attendances were registered.

A varied and heterogeneous public animated Spazio Chirale and its FabLab until late at night, in an atmosphere of creative contamination between nerd culture and contemporary art.

The Exhibition will remain open until 31 March, with free access during Spazio Chirale’s opening hours.