The Biennale of Moving Images narrows the screen-spectator gap in Italy

The 2019 edition of the Biennale de l'Image en Mouvement (Biennale of Moving Images) in Turin re-evaluated the boundaries between the screen and the audience. Titled The Sound of Screens Imploding, the event explored the moving image, its exhibition, perception, interaction and effect. The environments thus created offered a vision which is not just fuelled by images but also sounds and the overall immersive aesthetic. The Biennale was curated by Andrea Lissoni, Senior Curator, International Art (Film) at Tate Modern since 2014, and Andrea Bellini, Director of the Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève since 2012.

The 2019 Biennale built on the idea that projections are no more just limited to screens but have imploded outside of it, creating spaces not only to be visually admired but rather experienced. Conceived as a series of individual environments, the exhibition presented differing worlds almost like alternate universes drawing the viewers in, so much so, that they often fail or forget to distinguish between reality and fiction. The spaces then created a sense of infinity and it is easy to lose sense of time as also the distinction between past, present and future.

The Biennale, which opened in Turin on June 21, 2019, was a result of the partnership between the Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève and the OGR - Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin. Together, they have collaborated on the co-production of works, the creation of a comprehensive catalogue, and the realisation of a brand-new, site-specific version of the Geneva exhibition, purposely designed by Andreas Angelidakis for OGR. 

Talking about the Biennale, Nicola Ricciardi, Artistic Director of OGR said, “The Biennale de l'Image en Mouvement embodies some key aspects for Officine Grandi Riparazioni, beginning from the very concept of 'movement', that is at the core of all our artistic programme since the very beginning. This partnership with Geneva's CAC also gave us the opportunity to deal closely with the medium of the video, something unprecedented at OGR. After working on performance, music and dance inside the gallery spaces, thanks to this exhibition we have had the possibility to explore a new means of expression - with the same and constant desire of reinterpreting, re-adjusting and, at the same time, emphasising the architectural space around us."

Emphasising the innovative potential of new languages connected to the moving image, the exhibition forged an intense dialogue with a generation of artists from a wide range of countries and backgrounds, including the likes of Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Korakrit Arunanondchai and Alex Gvojic, Meriem Bennani, Ian Cheng, Elysia Crampton, Tamara Henderson and Kahlil Joseph. Further, designer Andreas Angelidakis has been instrumental in threading together the artistic installations to create a synchronicity with the post-industrial architecture of the century-old Officine of Turin.

The Biennale was on view till September 29, 2019, at the Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin, Italy.