Hypermaremma
As part of Hypermaremma
As part of Hypermaremma
As part of the fourth edition of the Hypermaremma festival, Istituto Svizzero supports the participation of Claudia Comte, who for the occasion has conceived a new work 105 meters long and 5 meters high that narrates and emphasizes the agricultural origins of the area. The work In Nature Nothing Exists Alone (the title is a quote taken from author Rachel Carson) is placed in a wheat field right next to Pescia Fiorentina, and is entirely composed of pine trunks from Mount Amiata that were supposed to be employed in building construction, using a natural material to articulate a message in nature itself.
Starting from natural observation and its mutability, Claudia Comte creates impressive environmental installations that explore issues dear to her, such as climate change, ecology, and global pollution. Through her work, the artist talks about material memory and the wise art of craftsmanship. Born and raised in Grancy, a small village located at the foot of Mont Tendre, the artist brings a strong autobiographical component to all her works: the element of the forest belongs to the artist’s and her childhood memories – the very first elements capable of influencing the translation of the landscape in her creations.
In nature nothing exists alone is a project curated by Ilaria Marotta and Andrea Baccin. Realized with the support of of Fattoria Stendardi, Giorgio Stefanelli and CURA.
This year’s edition of Hypermaremma, which from 2019 has animated the Tuscan Maremma, returns with an even richer programme of site-specific interventions in some iconic and historical locations of the territory. From Giuseppe Gallo’s installation and Rachel Monosov’s performance that launched the season, to the artworks by Maurizio Nannucci, Claudia Comte, Francesco Cavaliere’s performance and much more.
Claudia Comte (1983, Grancy, Switzerland) works between media, often combining sculptures or installation with wall paintings to create environments where works relate to each other with a visual rhythm that is both methodical and playful. Her work is defined by her interest in the memory of materials and by a careful observation of how the hand relates to different technologies. In the last years, she has been invested in understanding the relationships between different forms of life. Materials do not only have a memory, but they also possess a knowledge about the environments they belong to. Marble entails the ocean, and life under water is crystallized and it would be inaccurate to see this material as hard, since it is liquid at its core. Wood „remembers“ the climate conditions of the planet and the forest that embodies the thousands of symbiotic processes that allow air, energy, breathing, growing, food, shelter. Claudia Comte’s work opens our view to environment, oxygen, the way the conditions of our planet modify the materials. Recent exhibitions include: The Dreamers, 58th October Salon – Belgrade Biennale (SB), After Nature, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (2021), Jungle and Corals, König Galerie, Berlin (2021), The Sea of Darkness, Kunstraum Dornbirn (2020); How to Grow and Still Stay the Same Shape, Castello di Rivoli (2019), and many others. Comte was awarded the Swiss Art Award in 2014 and with the Kiefer Hablitzel Award in 2012.
