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Manon
Wertenbroek
Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina — © 2019, Manon Wertenbroek
Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina — © 2019, Manon Wertenbroek
Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina — © 2019, Manon Wertenbroek
Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina — © 2019, Manon Wertenbroek
Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina — © 2019, Manon Wertenbroek
Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina — © 2019, Manon Wertenbroek
Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina — © 2019, Manon Wertenbroek
Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina — © 2019, Manon Wertenbroek
Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina — © 2019, Manon Wertenbroek
Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina — © 2019, Manon Wertenbroek
Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina — © 2019, Manon Wertenbroek

Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina

Room

Art in public space, Palazzo di Lorenzo, Gibellina Nuova, Sicily
25.07–31.08.2019
Curated by Arianna Catania
Text by Samuel Gross

For Gibellina, Manon Wertenbroek has ima­gi­ned an in situ pro­ject. The young artist consi­ders that pho­to­gra­phy goes far beyond the sur­face effect. She uses repro­duc­tive tech­niques, mate­rial research and the deve­lop­ment of various forms of prin­ting in a way to coun­te­ract the rigid pers­pec­tive impo­sed by came­ras. Under the per­gola of Lorenzo’s palace, the can­vases are prin­ted in shades of green. The brick walls are cove­red with pho­to­graphs of empty spaces. The semi-clo­sed space divides and pierces. The images create strange cold and reflec­ting rooms.
But these images are only one dimen­sion, a color, a sheet of glass. Manon Wertenbroek’s works are a constant play bet­ween dimen­sions and tex­tures. Each image is rewor­ked, engra­ved and mar­ked. The vie­wer is immer­sed, sur­roun­ded, in the refi­ned and struc­tu­red uni­verse of the artist. The pas­sage offe­red by the per­gola becomes a spa­tial expe­rience. The vision of the works depends on the time of the day or night (a lumi­nous ins­tal­la­tion ima­gi­ned by the artist acti­vates the space per­ma­nently). Photography has become, among other things, a means of pro­duc­tion to acti­vate archi­tec­ture. There is nothing exo­ge­nous any­more. This expe­rience is at the heart of all Manon Wertenbroek’s ins­tal­la­tions.
In this regard, the oppor­tu­nity to inter­vene in the city of Gibellina is almost obvious. If there is an urban space in which the view is exploi­ted in areas of suc­ces­sive floors that are explo­red in depth, it is Gibellina Nuova her­self. Manon’s works fit per­fectly within this context. It can thus demons­trate, once again, that pho­to­gra­phy knows no dimen­sions or limits.