Press release – Gianluca Marinelli: Forte Laclos (curated by Andrea Fiore)

January 30th – March 2nd, 2013

Start: January 30th, h 18.30

Monopoli Gallery is delighted to introduce ‘Forte Laclos’ the solo exhibition by Gianluca Marinelli (Taranto 1983), curated by Andrea Fiore. The exhibition will showcase through the reconstruction of the last days of Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803), author of Les liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons), died in Taranto in 1803, a consideration of rejection of oblivion, individual selfdetermination and intellectual freedom.

‘Forte Laclos’ focuses on the last days of life of the French novelist, official and army General Choderlos de Laclos who was sent to Puglia to supervise the construction of a fort in the Isola di San Paolo, in the Gulf of Taranto. The Napoleonic fort was never completed and Laclos died shortly after his arrival.

Marinelli retraces and interprets the last events of the French novelist and drives the visitor to the consideration of the absurd and of our precariousness: how circumstances beyond our control stop us from expressing our potential and often lead to tragic ending. A reflection which connect sensitivity and historical view, existentialism and classical philosophy. The project shows how the artist and the historian can coexist together and how an intellectual survey can be expressed by a strong link between artistic production and historical reconstruction.
The exhibition will include a video inspired by one letter sent by the author of Les liaisons dangereuses to the General Marmont (1774- 1852) who was at the head of the French campaign of Italy. Furthermore there will be some drawings and works by the artist who reinterpreted archival materials.

Gianluca Marinelli (Taranto 1983). Artist and art historian. He lives and works between Lecce and Milan. Among his last art projects: Scrascia! (solo exhibition), performance, installation and relational art (Carosino, Castello D'Ayala Valva, March 2010); Scipione Ammirato Public Talks, video (Lecce, Ammirato Culture House, July 2011, organized by A.F.A); The Wall, an itinerant and collective exhibition (Lecce, Archiviazioni, October 2011, organized by Pietro Gaglianò); L'ambiente audio/cinetico di Antonio De Franchis, video (Venice, 54° Biennale -Padiglione Spagnolo-, for the Il Museum of Italian contemporary art in exile, October 2011, organised by Cesare Pietroiusti); Open 4, a collective exhibition (Venice, S.A.L.E., January-April 2012); La scelta del presente, solo exhibition (Milan, Monopoli Gallery, March 2012, organized by Andrea Fiore). He collaborates with ACH (Ammirato Culture House), Lecce. Dal 30 gennaio al 2 marzo 2013