Jonathan Vivacqua at White Noise / Rome

Jonathan Vivacqua
Lavoro inutile

Curated by Eleonora
Aloise and Carlo Maria Lolli Ghetti

Opening October 24th
2020 – from 3 to 8 pm

White Noise
Via della Seggiola, 9, Roma 


The most recent
history forced everyone to rethink its own position in society. A
new, unattended need for accountability took 7,5 billion of people
out of a sort of collective adolescence.

In this context we
experienced the consequences of the most extreme cultural and ethical
relativism. All the bubbles exploded, in many nationalistic systems
the preservation of the economy prevailed over public health. Our
walls crumbled revealing new, higher and beefier ones.

We all filled those
patched-up days as we could. We hesitantly floated in that paralysis
full of worries –where ineluctability provided a weird sense of
freedom- while we assisted to the failing of the whole productive
system.
The path going from
the agricultural system to the digital revolution is a tale full of
extraordinary achievements. In its fast progression it reached
unimaginable goals, often leaving the principles of humanism to the
history books without leading them to the future.

At the pinnacle of
progress, comforted by a global routine (considering acceptable the
existence of a universally known, unmovable, stochastic risk scale)
we realised that we were totally unprepared. We found ourselves stuck
in a socio-economic structure that we were ready to abandon straight
away in the name of a renewed spirit of self-determination.

We agreed on the
fact that, even though the sense of inadequacy made the most of the
shock, it was the ideal soil for self-awareness.
Reconsidering our
role in the productive system means to think about employment not
only as an economic activity but mostly as personal investment in a
extended time span. We should stop thinking about maximising results
in the shortest period of time as the only driving principle of our
productive time.

This impulse lasted
less than expected. The nostalgia for the pre-lockdown behaviour came
back stronger than ever in an extreme act of defence against change.
Jonathan Vivacqua
(Como, 1986) works in this groove, researching the relationship among
these contradictory elements and trying to find their basic equation.
Scraps from construction sites, worthless elements silently
contributing to a bigger project, become the centre of his practice.
These elements carry
with them the idea of invisible labour, essential to the structural
integrity but lacking any kind of pathos. Jonathan glorifies the form
while he annihilates the function.



The exhibition
The works on show
display with biting sarcasm and melancholy two faces of the same
coin: the dignity of strain and hard work considered an aseptic tool.
The path begins with
a mosaic of classic inspiration made of floor spacers, son of an
exhausting process that highlights the dichotomy between time and
productivity. Needing a longer amount of time to complete a single
task is seen as a disvalue. On the finished work the sentence
“Lavoro
inutile”
(futile task)
is displayed, self-denouncing with
ironic resignation its nature.

In the second room,
the impact of self-referential work creates a domino effect on the
entire system.
You are a
fucking bodybuilder”
is a barbell
made of concrete and stone, impossible to lift. Bodybuilding is the
epitome of the swagger and narcissistic effort lacking any functional
or spiritual connotation. Its only goal is self celebration.
The work is strongly
related to the “Panorama” series: natural landscapes made of
tiles that, like giant pixels, make hard focusing the image they
represent.
A nostalgic myopia
that is both conceptual and optical, widened by the deep blue of the
room floor.

Jonathan ends the
route with
“Pausa” (Break),
a large-scale installation in the
basement that closes the loop completely changing the registry, from
a witty levity to a poetic intimism.
Freestanding shovels
dominate the space. Exhausted and inert waiting for the humans to be
back. “Pausa” is a request, a necessity and a hope.