On 10.10.22 the Italian Cultural Institute in Oslo is presenting an informal and online talk a month before Stefano Cagol's presentation at Kunsthall 3.14 in Bergen, which will take place, through the artist's choice of symbolic dates, on 11.11.22.
The talk is presented as part of the international calendar of the 18th Giornata del Contemporaneo within the frame of this edition's main theme, which is dedicated to ecological issues, addressed by Cagol's twenty years of research and also at the centre of his new work entitled "Far before and after us".
The first chapter of this work is present at the Venice Art Biennale 2022 (at the Archivi della Misericordia until November 27th in the exhibition of the state of Perak-Malaysia) and the second chapter took shape on the island of Golta in Norway during a residency last June at BEK Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts; the premiere will be in Bergen at Kunsthall 3,14 (on November 11th,12th and 13th).
In Golta, Cagol sought a confrontation with evidence from the earth's oldest era, with metamorphic rocks of magmatic origin that emerged from the earth's crust from great depths as traces of the continental collision tectonic event known as the Caledonian orogeny 490-390 million years ago, which was the basis for the formation of northern Europe as we know it. Here, the artist enacts a fire ritual. He acts as a shaman, at the time of the summer solstice lit by the night sun, in total solitude, filming himself with a drone.
Stefano Cagol's project in Norway this year undoubtedly originates from the artist's early experiences in the Norwegian Arctic, fundamental in his career, already presented at MA*GA in Gallarate and in the collection at Museion in Bolzano, which also holds a special cut for the museum's exceptional media façade.
Stefano Cagol's residency at BEK - Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts and the presentation at Kunsthall 3.14 are supported by the Italian Cultural Institute in Oslo.
The panel discussion will have an introduction by Raffaella Giampaola, director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Oslo and contributions from Stefano Cagol, artist; Maria Rusinovskaya, director, BEK - Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts; Malin Barth, director, Kunsthall 3.14, Bergen; Khaled Ramadan, Camilla Boemio, curator and associate curator, Pera+Flora+Fauna, Perak - Malaysia, Venice Biennale 2022; Alessandro Castiglioni, senior curator and deputy director, MA*GA, Gallarate; Frida Carazzato, research curator, Museion, Bolzano.
The round table will be available online: the link will be on the website of the Italian Cultural Institute in Oslo on the dedicated page, with the technical organisation made by BEK Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts.