ArtNoble Gallery is pleased to present C’era una mosca (There once was a fly), Filippo Maz- za’s (Milan, 1994) first solo exhibition, accompanied with texts by Ilaria Baia Curioni and sound design by Jacopo Gino.
C’era una mosca is a reflection on visibility, perception, and on invisibility. This sensation of an “absence of art,” contrasted with the buzzing of a fly, creates tension. You look around, searching for the source of the noise, but there is nothing which justifies that sound. And yet, there is something inevitable: the fly is there, invisible, but absolutely present through its sound. The buzzing becomes the focal point of everything, a kind of “sound artwork” that, despite its lightness, challenges traditional expectations of what an art exhibition should propose. The sound, the golden material, and the absence of context push the viewer to interact with the work, making the act of searching an integral part of the ae- sthetic experience.
The fly, whilst remaining a common insect, transforms itself into an object loaded with meaning: the gold, the buzzing, and its constant “disappearance” raise questions about how we conceive beauty and consequently perceive it. Its existence seems to depend on our listening, our ability to perceive it, and thus art becomes a matter of waiting, searching, and paying attention to the smallest signs. The very duration of the exhibition—a mon- th—respects this exercise in attention, following the natural life cycle of a fly.
In this interplay between visible and invisible, presence and absence, the exhibition is not just a visual experience but also a sonic, interactive, and perhaps even emotional one, where the value of the work lies not only in its aesthetic aspect but also in the personal interpretation of the visitor—in their attempt to decipher that elusive sound that hints at something grand, yet is, at the same time, infinitely small.
Filippo Mazza was born in Milan in 1994. After graduating in Interior Design and Sce- nography in 2017 from the European Institute of Design, his interest in artistic practice developed, spending the following six years working at Fonderia Battaglia, where he delved into the lost-wax casting process in all its aspects. Over the years Mazza has collaborated and interacted with various artistic collectives that, together with his experience in the foundry, stimulated him to develop and deepen his artistic vision.
Filippo Mazza’s research is rooted within a conceptual dimension, where objects, body, sound and emptiness become tools to interrogate human perceptions and emotions. The urgency to explore the limits of sensitive experience and meaning – pushing the spectator to confront the invisible, the marginal, the silent – constitutes the heart of his practice.
C’era una mosca is his first solo exhibition presented in an art gallery. The artworks are never mere objects, they are spaces of relation, inquiry, and discovery, where the observer assumes a participatory and active role in the development of the work itself.
