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O R N A G H I & P R E S T I N A R I

O R N A G H I & P R E S T I N A R I

Ornaghi & Prestinari (WE) work as a duo since 2009.

The need to develop our research in endless dialogue and exchange of skills and knowledge, as in a sort of workshop, reflected on the choice of working together.Our interdisciplinary approach, matured during the studying years of architecture and design, is, by choice, part of our artistic research, and then a working method that locates our production on a hybrid ground where different fields can be in interaction.

Our efforts on thinking at things like united, do not want to simplify their complexity. If science by definition separates and classifies, we try to give birth to coexistences and balances. Combining apparently distant worlds. The object united to life, the action to tools.

We develop several projects at the same time, they start from spontaneous intuitions and we embrace the unpredictable as a creative eventuality. We are interested on technical processes, from more ancient ones to experimentals. Through exercise, we test ourselves with new skills.

Our practice is focused on dualities between thought and action, concept and manual activity; with a marked attention for materials and their potential.Doing as a different way of thinking. Art as a space where ideas can grow.

An alchemical practice made of daily patience exercises, the summation of simple but demanding actions which, from the project to its execution, require a constant renewal of will and confidence.

The artist’s work is one possible way to amplify a certain consciousness about the world. Care and love for what we do, enrich the thinking process of things. We conceive artworks as an inquiry, thought, confrontation and coexistence; the top of a pyramid underneath all the things are, the questions we ask ourselves and sense they have for us.

Valentina Ornaghi (Milan 1986) and Claudio Prestinari (Milan 1984) began their university education at the Politecnico di Milano, graduating respectively in Industrial Design and Architecture. They then both went on to study at the IUAV in Venice. In 2011 and 2013 they are artist in residence at “Fondazione Spinola-Banna per l’arte” (Turin, IT) and “VIR-ViaFarini in Residence” (Milan, IT).In 2012 they won “Regione Veneto prize” and they received a grant from “Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa” (Venice, IT).In 2014 they had a solo show “Familiare” at Galleria Continua (San Gimignano, IT).In 2016 “Estudio Carlos Garaicoa” invited them at “Artista X Artista” the first international artist residency program in La Habana, Cuba.They took part in several international shows, both in experimental spaces and institutions, such as Le Centquatre (Paris), Palazzo Reale (Milan), Aguila de Oro (La Habana), Museo Pietro Canonica a Villa Borghese (Rome), Biblioteca Ariostea (Ferrara), Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa (Venice), Zsolnay Cultural Quarter (Pécs), GMB - Centre for Contemporary Art (Bratislava), Hamburg Kunsthaus (Hamburg), KCCC -Klaïpeda Culture Communication Center (Klaïpeda), La Fabrique (Mountrouge), Museum of Contemporary Art (Skopje).

G R I G I O L I E V E

G R I G I O L I E V E (light gray)2015

Pigment C-Print Hahnemule paper, artist’s frame32 x 39 cm each

We examined the possibility of creating a series of sculptures starting from the shadows in the paintings of Giorgio Morandi. Using a virtual 3D model to reconstruct his studio, we recreated the set of the painting and the respective composition of objects in order to deduce their hidden views. Through the latter, we modelled cones of shadow without the objects. The plasticine sculptures are then photographed. Grigio Lieve reflects on the role of photography in the two-dimensional translation of sculpture. Historically, sculptors were the first to grasp the importance photography could have for the optical exploration of the three-dimensional work in all its complexity. Grigio Lieve is an investigation of the possibilities of light and of the stratifications of the passage of time; of sculpture understood more as a mechanism and an attitude; of light that gives a certain rhythm to surfaces, drawing volumes and shadows in the immateriality of the image.

G R I G I O L I E V EG R I G I O L I E V E

G R I G I O L I E V E

F I L D I F E R R O

Starting from the last drawing by Giorgio Morandi we have replicated his signs with fragments of iron wire then spread on paper to take a photograph.Drawing, becoming matter, leaves its referent and generates shadows.

F I L D I F E R R O (iron wire)2016

Pigment C-Print Hahnemule paper, artist’s frame30 x 42 cm

S A B B I E

The sand that covered the whole solid was swept away by a strong jet of compressed air. Remains only a small portion of sand protected behind the volume, in its shadow.The shadow as an habitable space.

S A B B I E (sands)2015

Pigment C-Print Hahnemule paper, artist’s frame40 X 40 cm

O P G R A F I E

O P G R A F I E2012

Mold/tracing of light on photosensitive resin3 plates 24,4 x 18,7 cm; 3 plates 28,8 x 33,6 cm; 2 plates 28,5 x 20,8 cm; 1 plate 49,5 x 33,2 cm

The project takes life from negative series of photographs by Paolo Monti at the Pietà Rondanini (1977). In particular, we focused on the embrace, situated in the upper part of the “incomplete”, where the two bodies seem to fade into each other. What we find fascinating in photographic sculpture is the coexistence between absence and presence, reality and image, positive and negative.During the analogical process, we followed the same phases of photographic development. Nonetheless, instead of using a paper support, we opted for a transparent photosensitive resin, which was solidified by the action of light filtering through the negative.The final output were plates in relief, which were not an attempt to copy Pietà Rondanini, but the result of the solidification of the lights of photography. So we did not create a faithful transcription of that sculpture, but a somehow different possibility of appearance, where not only the image but also the corporeality emerged.This work deals with re-objectualisation. In fact, each printing carries in itself features of a material transcription. It is mostly this objectual (and consequently sculptural) aspect we are interested in. It is an attempt to return to a sculptural dimension through light. A way of triggering a process of re materialization of “mold/tracing of light” preserved in negatives. A chance to reactivate an interrupted physical presence, that light coagulated in the hybrid territory among two languages: photography and sculpture. A process of matter’s transmutation from one dimension to another. A loop sequence in which light is always the same, but it leads us somewhere else. A trace. The void left by light in its passage into another time.

O P G R A F I E

R O S A

One of the safety bed barrier of Claudio Prestinari’s grandmother bed (Rosa) is covered with a mixtures of resin and pigments. The bed guardrail as an object related both to taking care of child and elderly. The colors refer to the iconography of the Virgin as well as the vertical position of the bed transforms the fence in a staircase.

R O S A (Rose)2016

Bed barrier painted with pink and blue pigments40 X 250 cm

S T E S O

On the linen fabric of a camping bed we painted with a mixture of lapis lazuli and resin. The pattern refers to fragments of an starry sky laid such as in the reconstruction of an incomplete painting.

S T E S O (outstretched)

2015

Lapis lazuli pigment on the linen fabric of a wooden camping bed.190 x 64 x 41 cm

O LT R E M A R I N O

A wooden frame painted with Klein’s color recipe contains a collage of monochrome paintings clippings of IKB series retrieved from art history books and monographs. A work on coexistence and on the distance between reality and image, between the physicality of the original color and its reproductions.

O LT R E M A R I N O ( K . ) 2016

Ultramarine blue pigment and resin on wood, collage32 x 39 cm

O LT R E M A R I N O

Similarly, the frame painted with egg tempera and blue of lapis lazuli pigment contains a collage made with cutouts of the Virgin’s mantle made by Fra Angelico.

O LT R E M A R I N O ( A N G E L I C O )2016

Egg tempera with lapis lazuli pigment on wood, collage32 x 39 cm

F A M I L I A R E

Every panel is generated by making incisions on its surface, previously covered with silver leaf. The first step of the process is related to the construction of a sacred image. This work is based on meditation, on overlapping and on taking care. Then we try to violate the perfection of these blurred mirrors. The wish to establish a connection with a working tool related to building: the screwdriver (with its star-shaped tip), by turning it into a primordial pen, able to write universal cuneiform characters. Traces of the physical presence of a transit, footprints leading imagination to another place. The surface echoes, vibrates, reflects, lets its craters float and lets people approach to a cloudy area, a fog in which the “here and now” loses consistency.

A P P U N T I (notes, mark down, pointed)2014

Wood, plaster, pigment, armenian bole, silver leaf and punching made with a Pozidriv-tip screwdriver (in Italian it is called “starlike screwdriver” because its tip is star-shaped)90 x 180 cm each

F A M I L I A R E

A P P U N T I

A P P U N T I2015

Wood, plaster, pigment, armenian bole, silver leaf and punching made with a Pozidriv-tip screwdriver 100 x 113 cm

M O R S O

A wrench route is repaired by carving the missing part in alabaster.

M O R S O (bite)2016

Wrench, alabasterVariable dimensions

F A M I L I A R E

Starting from blue overalls as a model, we created a woolen sample of it. Stains and marks were obtained through colorful embroidery. We changed the jeans fabric of the original (made to withstand the test of time) into a soft and warm one.We created this hand-made work as a grandmother would make a gift for her nephew.

A B I T O (suit, attire, habit)2013

Jeans overalls, blue wool overalls with colorful embroidery, two coat hanger made by wood and brass170 x 65 x 7 cm each

P A E S A G G I O

Sculpture of a landscape with smoking chimneys.An imaginary architectural model in aluminium die-cast. A work table puffing and wheezing. A smoke machine is built into the space beneath the table’s work surface.

P A E S A G G I O (landscape)2015

Aluminum cast (table top), steel, bulb lamp, hazer machine120 x 80 x h.110 cm

P A E S A G G I O

F A M I L I A R E

Box full of hand-made coins of 1 cent.It is quite common to find 1 cent coins on the ground, but they are rarely picked up, as if such a physical exertion were considered greater than its economic value. We imagined how surprising could be to find a small artwork on our coin’s reverse. Something it could be worth the effort of bending down to be seen. While smoothing and polishing the coin’s reverse we discovered some steel beneath the copper coating. A small shiny mirror that we engraved. Our aim was to enhance what had the lowest monetary value and also to alter its exchange value. We like to think about the action of sabotage and the illegality of this kind tampering.

A F I O R D I C O N I O (fleur de coin)2014

Hand-made coins: etchings on 1 cent coins with a face polished. Box made of clay and its crate used like a base Box: 25 x 27x 22 cm

F A M I L I A R E

Replace the bark of a tree, reduced to stumps, with an armor of Pozidriv screws. The coating operation implies an explosion of the interior of the trunk that remains joined through the screws.

A R M A R S I (arm oneself, armor reinforcement)2014

Four strains of debarked wood covered with Pozidriv screws110- 120 length, 15-20 cm diameter each

A P P U N TA M E N T O

Sculpture of a screwdriver with a moon-shaped head and an alabaster handle.

A P P U N TA M E N T O (rendezvous, meeting, pointed)2014

Steel and alabaster handle30 cm

F U O R I M A N O

F U O R I M A N O (out of the way, out of hand)2014

Hammer25 x 9 x 1,8 cm

Rocket carved into a wooden hammer handle.

F A M I L I A R E

Thinking about gratuitousness.A fragile altar of simple and banal moments. A collection of similar and repetitive instants that are consumed by the flowing of time. A sort of still life.The sculpture is made of welded steel rods and includes licking of some chupa chups during breaks. Lollipops recall small kind gestures, cheerfulness, and the concept of gift.

A L L I N E A M E N T I (alignment)2011

Chupa chups, steel threaded rod, oak wood, small steel plates50 x 50 cm, h. 200 cm

TA N G O

Landscape with toothbrushes and alabaster on light blue table.The work springs from an attempt to retain two toothbrushes tight in a glass of iced water. To show the effort required to maintain an intimate moment.The ice in the glass consumes itself slowly, changing its shape to the extent of resembling a small mountain.

TA N G O2013

Toothbrushes, ice, copper, refrigerating engine120 x 80 cm

TA N G O

Two toothbrushes intertwined in a glass balancing on the edge of a small shelf.

TA N G O2015

Toothbrushes, glass, steel, marble35 x 35 x h.120 cm

A N C H E I F A C H I R IA N C H E I F A C H I R I

When visiting China, we were struck by the ubiquitous symbol of a scudding cloud. Acloud heavy with rain is a symbol of fertility in the Orient rather than an ill omen.We thought it was wonderful to spend days embroidering grey clouds by hand.An alabaster peg hangs on a line.

A N C H E I F A C H I R I (also fakirs)2015

Handmade silk embroidery on silk, steel, alabaster clothespinSilk fabric: 115 x 230 cm, cables steel: 200 cm length

G U S C I O

Dig an alabaster stone until to obtain a shell as thin as possible. Replicate the external form of natural stone inside.

G U S C I O (shell)2016

Carved alabaster23 x 11 x 14 cm

G U S C I O G U S C I O

U S C I R E D A L G U S C I O

A small monument of a nutshell. In italian the metal used for this casting is called with a name which have a double meaning: tin and pond.

U S C I R E D A L G U S C I O (get out there, get out of the shell)2015

Tin casting of a nutshell, paper, towelVariable dimensions

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

Nyogen Senzaki e Paul Reps, Una tazza di tè, in “101 storie zen”, traduzione di Adriana Motti, Piccola Biblioteca Adelphi, Adelphi, 1973

P I E N O2015

Alabastro, libro22 x 28 x 6 cm circa

P A S S O A P A S S O

A bicycle as a point of contact between cuban and chinese cultures that characterize “Aguila De Oro”, an ex cinema located in Havana’s Chinatown.We have sculpted a pair of pedals in alabaster that we replaced to a Cuban bicycle once arrived in Havana. The stone as ground, the pair of pedals as a means to produce kinetic energy and to actuate the movement. A sculpture that tries to combine pieces made in distant places within the same object.

P A S S O A P A S S O (step by step)2016

Site specific work for the show “You+Me=Us”, Aguila De Oro, La Habana (Cuba)Bicycle pedals, alabaster and carillonVariable dimensions

E S P E R I M E N T O _ 1E S P E R I M E N T O _ 1

There are certain actions that we repeat every day. Of these, some can take on a particular meaning, a wellestablished ritual; the celebration of the beginning of a day within the scent of coffee.Experiment-1 is a prototype coffee-pot, utopist and yet “drugged”, in a permanent standstill in the moment of boiling; that is, when the noise is at its loudest and the aroma exhales the highest intensity.This experiment aims at establishing a sort of perpetual morning, an artificial eternity which can’t but be deprived of its simplicity.

E S P E R I M E N T O _ 1 (experiment_1)2013

Coffeepot, white wood table, light green shelves, electric cooker, white wood structure, pots, pipes60 x6 5 cm, h.120 cm

P R E O C C U P A R S I

On the occasion of reflection on the earthquake of Ferrara, we got the opportunity to work in such a relevant historical context as Ariostea Library. Protecting and copying are the two symmetrical actions supporting the transmission of knowledge which constitute the basis of life itself in a library. Ariostea Library keeps copies of originals which were lost, or which never existed as such. A new pedestal, built in accordance with aseismic criteria, will take care of a plaster cast involved in an emblematic genealogical tangle related to Canova. Copy, mold, reconstruction, interpretation, translation: trying to limit the loss of the results of human intelligence, that is a multiform and slippery path. Actually, the task of exposing and preserving hides the choice of a difficult balance: exhibiting or preserving? This dichotomy also affects another inseparable word pair (which, therefore, does not impose choices): utopia and failure, because musealization separates from a context in order to protect, necessarily betraying the promise to preserve identity. Philology teaches how history of culture is stuffed with a summation of mistakes (which pave the action of copying a text) and with pedestals (which expose but do not preserve).A pedestal is nothing more than a sculpture made for another sculpture. It is a plain skeleton of steel and wood showing strength and fragility, but also revealing its condemnation to wait for a real check, that any technically plausible attempt is forced to face.

P R E O C C U P A R S I (taking care)2013

Site-specific work at Ariostea Library, Ferrara Basis for earthquake: varnished wood, steel and teflon; Canova’s sculpture140 x 140 x h.250 cm