July 7th -  September 26th 2010



PRAETER NATURAM


BRANDON BALLENGEE




PAV presents Praeter naturam, the first solo exhibition in a public institution of the New York based artist Brandon Ballengée (Sandusky, Ohio, 1974), one of the protagonists of the Bio-art and a biology researcher himself. The exhibition title, curated by Claudio Cravero, from Latin means beyond the nature. In fact, it refers to amphibian species with deformations in tissues and joints analyzed in the recent Ballengée’s studies. These morphological anomalies are due to serious environmental factors linked to pollution, and they don’t generate monsters, but specimens beyond the ordinary nature. Then, the artist’s work can still augment the attention given to topics on defending the world with declarations of respect for otherness and biodiversity. At PAV Ballengée shows the results of his Ecoactions, articulated recognitions in the fields and laboratory testing particular species of amphibians that - since 1996 - he has carried out in some areas of England, California and Canada, and recently in Turin with PAV Ecoaction, a workshop made in collaboration with The Turin Po River Park.



Brandon Ballangée during Eco-action in the Po river




Brandon Ballengée, DFA25 Promethéus, 2003/2007, Malamp series, Iris print, 118x88 cm


Press release 


In collaboration with

In the program of

        

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JARDIN MANDALA
Gilles Clément

The PAV – Park of Living Art is pleasured to present Jardin Mandala, a garden conceived by Gilles Clément (Paris, 1943) that fits the green area on the hanging rooftop of the art centre. The garden consists of 500 walkable square metres sown with sedums and graminaceous plants to testify beauty either as perfection and transience, starting from an ideal resume of the structure of the Mandala, originally made of sand and pigments to represent the frailty and transience of life. The work takes place on the top of the hill containing “Bioma”, the permanent interactive art project realized by Piero Gilardi. Clément has taken up the challenge of this particular place by planting vegetal species inured to root even in the most dry soils and to survive without any special gardening care.
Traditionally, the Mandala is an extraordinary tool to become aware of a place where to fix the mind, to focus on one’s own inner world and finally to comprehend it. Jardin Mandala – according to Clément’s opinion - “can represent either the container and the content”, that is to say the whole vegetal biodiversity in its continuous becoming.


Jardin Mandala  is supported by French Embassy in Italy