Andrea Magnani at Interstate Projects

Artist: Andrea Magnani

Exhibition title: La Terrasse

Curated by: Bryce Grates

Venue: Interstate Projects, New York, US

Date: May 17 – June 23, 2019

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Interstate Projects, New York

Interstate Projects is pleased to present La Terrasse, the first solo exhibition in the United States by artist Andrea Magnani.

While observing the nights sky, our ancestors started to gather stars into constellations. They began to aggregate the inexplicable into meaningful patterns. In the same way as today, we observe the complex reality that surrounds us, often resulting in a creative act capable of organizing it, not only to explain it, but in order to handle it. This meaning-making attitude has pushed us to design objects, laws, languages, cities or architectures, sometimes out of necessity, other times out of desire.

In La Terrasse, Magnani’s areas of research converge into an environment where this process is staged, reproducing a complex and generative tension between each object on view. This environment has been meticulously constructed by Magnani, with every object participating in a visual and sensual balancing act. The viewer is haunted by a distilled reality, surrounded by familiar objects they would find in a subterranean bar.

Situated on a table is a cash register, which takes on a role based on the Greek myth The Oracle of Delphi. According to the myth, The Oracle would give cryptic predictions and guidance to both the city-states and individuals. Upon approaching the oracle cash register, it produces a prediction in the form of a receipt – the numbers presented as your total bill can be decoded using La Smorfia, a Neapolitan tradition used to analyze dreams using numbers ranging from 1 through 90.

La Terrasse negotiates what makes an authentic ambiance or object attractive to it’s viewer. Magnani seeks to make sense of these overlapping realities by creating his own. Whether that be drawings, “fake readymades”, or reimagined everyday objects, every work aids in creating a multifaceted layered narrative. Occasionally, the space will be activated and turned into a real bar, which further erodes the boundary between reality and representation. Depending on the moment in which the work is encountered, the viewers’ accepted reality of the exhibition will shift, giving rise to a paradox. The moment the work is encountered, it enters a stage where everything and nothing is authentic.

This exhibition was made with the help of Myver Glass Blowing, Icebeem 3D Printing, and Giorgia Petri.

Andrea Magnani(b. 1983, Faenza, IT) lives and works in Milan, Italy. Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, PAV Parco Arte Vivente, Giorgio Galotti, Archivio di Stato (Turin); T293, Fondazione Baruchello, Villa Farinacci promoted by MAXXI museum (Rome); MAMbo – Museum of Modern Art (Bologna); Marsèlleria (New York); Italienska Kulturinstitutet (Stockholm), Stanford Housing (London), Can Serrat (Barcelona), Bevilacqua La Masa (Venice); Triennale Museum, Marsèlleria, O’, Viafarini, Crepaccio, Mars (Milan), Pad. Regionale 54° Biennale di Venezia (Reggio Emilia). In 2007 he co-founded Resign, a collective research design studio. In 2014 he founded the art label Siliqoon. Lives and works in Milan.

Bryce Grates(b. 1993) is an independent curator and arts professional based in Queens, New York.

Andrea Magnani, La Terrasse, 2019, exhibition view, Interstate Projects, New York

Andrea Magnani, La Terrasse, 2019, Pencil on paper, 3D printed case, Arduino electronic system, motion sensor, thermal printer, thermal paper, lcd screen, keyboard, lithium batteries, battery cases, digital print on adesive paper, transparent tape, barcode printed on paper, embroidery on salmon color fabric, coffee on pvc sheet, spray color on bended metal pipes, bended inox metal stripe, wine, glue, dirt, dust

Andrea Magnani, Les couleurs de la nuit cannoise, 2019, Blowing glass, sapele wood, rubber, wine, metal spoon, digital print on photographic paper, plastic frame, glue, fixative spray, hair, dirt, dust