VITTORIO SANTORO (extended until 23 Nov.)

VITTORIO SANTORO (extended until 23 Nov.)

We are pleased to showcase the new installation of Vittorio Santoro at The Showroom by Xavier Fischer

Rushing To Take Sides / Reflecting On The Right Side To Take, 2024

Opening reception: Friday 13 September 18:00 – 20:00

13 September – 2 November 2024

Tue – Fri 11:00 – 18:00 ⏐ Sat 11:00 – 17:00

“I have long been interested in the function of ‘transmission’ objects or devices and of media that transmit, forward or move things: objects that mediate, help, or assist. Something that is in between, functioning, for example, between cause and effect.”- Vittorio Santoro

The exhibition features (among other works) a brand new, large and disorientating installation entitled Pulleys (Put In, Take Out / The Unanswered Question) (2024) in which a Sicilian basket, a violin, two half-cut musical instruments as well as other elements play a central role.
The balance of the these units thus seems to suggest an investigation into ‘the contradiction’ between their weights and their emblematic objecthoods, incidentally refining the gaze for the coexisting contents. How will this ‘suspension’ affect the viewer?

The large-scale installation Pulleys (Put In, Take Out/The Unanswered Question) reflects on ethical principles of coexistence, asking who has the power to act and who does not. It rejects binary or oppositional thinking. In contrast to the conflict in Charles Ive’s composition, here the trumpet and flute merge into a hybrid object, freed from their original function. Rather, Santoro searches for the origin of such differences and questions the universal validity of today’s flawed systems and their capacity for justice. At its very core, the installation reflects on the role of the individual in a larger social structure and the responsibility that comes with it.

Vittorio Santoro lives and works in Zurich.

Since 2000, his works have been exhibited widely group shows at major institutions, including Tate Modern (London), CAPC Musée d’art contemporain (Bordeaux), Kunstmuseum Bern, Kunsthaus Zurich, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Centre Pompidou (Paris), A Tale of a Tub (Rotterdam); as well as in solo exhibitions at notable venues such as Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin), Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard (Paris), Yvon Lambert (Paris, New York), Museum of Contemporary Art, Pavillon (Shanghai), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Kunstmuseum Luzern, Kestner Gesellschaft (Hannover).
In 2017, he was nominated for the Prix Marcel Duchamp.