KAYU IN VIAGGIO
April 19 – May 2, 2024
Kayu – Lucie Fontaine branch in Bali – is delighted to present her fifteenth project, “Kayu in Viaggio,” a group exhibition of selected international artists on the full carbon customized catamaran ELSSA*.
The participating artists are Jumaldi Alfi, Ashley Bickerton, Stefano Calligaro, Marco Cassani, Radu Comșa, Heri Dono, Fendry Ekel, Claire Fontaine, Bepi Ghiotti, Anthea Hamilton, Mangku Muriati, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Sally Smart, Narcisse Tordoir and Maurizio Vetrugno.
The title “Kayu in Viaggio” [Kayu on the Move] refers to “L’Attico in Viaggio” [L’Attico on the Move] an action in which the Italian gallerist Fabio Sargentini transformed his gallery into a boat, inviting artists to sail on the Tiber (from the river port to the sea).
“Kayu in Viaggio” aims to examine the concept of the artwork as a self-sufficient entity able to generate and acquire new values within “a permanent autonomous zone where objects are simply themselves,” a discourse started in 2016 with the fifth project by Kayu – “Ritiro” [The Retreat], a group exhibition in Bali and Java that brought forward the idea that things without life, or seemingly without life, can actually have their own existence, and continued in 2020 with the eleventh project of Kayu “We Move Amongst Ghosts,” a group exhibition in Jakarta, Indonesia, which examines the potential of the objects to recall memories.
Continuing this discourse, the exhibition investigates the unique condition of the artwork, reflecting on space and time. The exhibition sets sail without a real destination but for the simple fact of traveling the globe and getting to know it by crossing it, “… a way to send an ‘SOS’ signal to the world, showing it that I am ‘still alive’ despite the circumstance”**; as Franco Farinelli wrote: “exactly like in front of a globe, and unlike what happens with a map, we cannot look at everything at once, and to have the vision we are used to of what is in front of us we are forced to move around it.”***
The artists were invited to design a flag, which was produced in Bali and hoisted on the catamaran during its fourteen days sailing, from Bali to Raja Ampat, Indonesia. The exhibition is visible only through photographic and video documentation which will be published daily on the IG account of Kayu Lucie Fontaine (@kayuluciefontaine) and relaunched on MASSIMODECARLO (@massimodecarlogallery)
This exhibition is supported by MASSIMODECARLO, Milan / London / Hong Kong / Paris / Beijing / Seoul, and Honold Fine Art. For more information, please contact Lucie Fontaine’s employee in Bali kayu@luciefontaine.com
* ELSSA is an ICECAT 67, a full carbon customized catamaran built for Leasy Yacht Malta by shipyard ICE Yachts, to bring a family to travel around the world. ELSSA started her trip in Cremona on River Po on the 3rd of March 2020.
** Fendry Ekel interviewed by Naima Morelli, Plural Art Magazine, https://pluralartmag.com/2021/11/16/is-there-a-silver-lining-to-the-lack-of-tourism-for-the-balinese-art-scene/ , Singapore, 16 11 2021.
*** Franco Farinelli, La Crisi Della Ragione Cartografica (Turin, Einaudi, 2009), p. 204.
Image: Marco Cassani, sketch for One of the Blessed, 2024. Silver leaf on print, 10 × 17,8 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Honold Fine Art.