Vivace at Balcony Gallery

Artists: Anders Holen, Dasha Shishkin, Guendalina Cerruti, Horácio Frutuoso, Julien Monnerie, Lorenzo Monnini, Matt Paweski, Paloma Proudfoot, Tim Enthoven, Tina Braegger

Exhibition title: Vivace

Curated by: Domenico de Chirico

Venue: Balcony Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal

Date: December 6, 2019 – January 25, 2020

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Balcony Gallery, Lisbon

“Vivace” does not correspond to an andante grazioso, it is not allegro and it is not vivo, it is between the two, neither one nor the other, a little one and a bit the other, it is more allegro than allegro, slower than vivo but it is above all full and articulated. In Italian music theory, the tempo of a composition is its progression or the written reference to the performance time, shown above the pentagram and indispensable for the interpretation of the musical piece, as it establishes its diﬃculty by influencing its executive style.

Although time indications exist in almost every spoken language, the basics of classical music often lead to using indications in European languages, particularly in Italian.

The instruments used in such a performance are obviously the same as those of an adagissimo or a grave. However, such instruments for expressive quality at that given musical time acquire a more marked identity, express themselves for what they are and above all emphasise their acoustic variety highlighting colour, shape and movement.

Here is the quality mentioned above of this vivace being, its varied and complex fullness. How complicated this vivacity is, so eccentric and light, aware and carefree.

And if the orchestra in question whose choreuts are metaphorically constituted by the works of art that make up “Vivace” was made of aesthetic lapilli? And what if the character of time was not at stake but instead that of vision?

It seems to enter a vivace choral garden made of works, a composition of bpm, or beats per minute, of bouncing frequencies. Each element beats a visual rhythm of refined entity, each of them is vivace, allegro but at the same time sentient and mature, dancing but lymphatic and all together they tell a story in an extraordinarily non-cacophonic result but made of a weave, punctuated by intermediate breaths, which is performed between expressive paths and creative undulations of a different matrix.

-Domenico de Chirico, 2019

Vivace, curated by Domenico de Chirico, 2019-2020, exhibition view, Balcony Gallery, Lisbon

Matt Paweski, Butterfly, 2017, Aluminium, copper rivets and vinyl paint, 15,2 x 30,4 x 30,4 cm

Vivace, curated by Domenico de Chirico, 2019-2020, exhibition view, Balcony Gallery, Lisbon

Anders Holen, Housebroken I, 2019, Glazed porcelain, metal, brackets, 50 x 23 x 15 cm; Anders Holen, Housebroken II, 2019, Glazed porcelain, metal, brackets, 45 x 20 x 20 cm