Anna Franceschini

Information

Objects, movements and visions, existences that intersect and dance, appearing in ways that are as unpredictable as they are ambiguous and prodigious. Anna Franceschini’s cinematic art is a constantly evolving landscape of fragments of a world, coming out in all their silent, potential nature. What the artist presents is a reality parallel to the tangible world, where the most intimate, abstract spirits of the objects we see find a space to inhabit and tell their story. Anna Franceschini presents us with an active reflection on the language of cinema, and on its mechanisms and illusory nature.

Amazement and wonder, which are so uncommon in everyday life, are key to the artist’s work. A funfair at night, with its attractions and sounds, its lights and movement, is thus taken and represented in its most anthropomorphic dimension, revealing its other, most hidden and unimaginable face. Every rotation, movement, reflection of light and vortex in this work, The Player May Not Change His Position (2009), sets off a story, activating a sphere of feelings and unusual emotional reactions.The secret life of moving objects and the symbolic universe it leads to are shown inside an industrial ironing facility, where the shirts in The Stuffed Shirt (2012) are those worn by dummies brought to life by mechanisms that appear to be playing with life itself. Explosions and collapses caused by the compressed air of the machines put these automatons severely to the test.They appear to reveal the essence of humanity, conjuring in the mind of the viewer parallels with movie characters that are clearly impressed on the popular imagination, such as Frankenstein, the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, and Robocop.

Starting from reality, Anna Franceschini thus constantly brings the notion of objectuality into question, playing with illusion, and developing potential visions and making them subtly manifest. In It’s about light and death (To Joseph Plateau), 2011, a series of stuffed animals in a taxonomy workshop reacquire their identity as wild beasts by means of an optical device in the form of a zoetrope. Lightly brushed by a gentle movement, crystal chandeliers are turned into colourful, joyfully spectral presences (Splendid, 2013), a doll forcefully declares her own existence by means of a little repeated gesture (A Siberian Girl, 2012) and kitsch souvenirs of the Eternal City fly magically through the air (Before They Break, Before They Die,They Fly!, 2014).

We might metaphorically venture to say that Anna Franceschini is capable of staging grand gala balls for objects.The visible world becomes an excuse to adorn the imagination by creating alternative ways of transforming “things” into animations. By suggesting this route, which is always governed by movement, the artist offers the viewer the freedom to create new landscapes and dream worlds that are generated by the power of fiction: endless stories by means of objects, constantly changing and always as potency.

Ilaria Gianni

Artwork

My work starts out from the real world and involves observing and exploring reality by means of audio-visual recordings. My films concentrate on objects and spaces, and on the relationships between them and human beings. Objects are never either neutral or inert entities but, just like human beings, they all have their own personal story to tell. And this, to the same degree as form and function, influences their use. Finding out how things are built reveals the hidden symbolic practices within them, releasing alchemical universes that are entwined with magic. Unlike what happens in shamanic societies, those who make them are often unwitting prey to the power of objects – as are the end-users.Through my works, I try to leave a trace of the temporary symbolic universes that accompany the production processes. Similarly, through the act of filming, I attempt to capture the residual energy that remains within spaces and constructions designed for activities, such as sport or mass consumption, that are the source of powerful emotions. Spaces absorb the flow of the desires of those who go through them.Traces of these emotional transitions can be seen in the wear and tear of materials and in the constant efforts made to regenerate and clean them, and they can be perceived, for example, in those moments that mark the shift between activity and inactivity. Slower, more subtle changes, and the energy adjustment and mood of places can be rendered visible and audible on film. Every work of mine is an attempt to reconstruct a ritual, and the place it belongs to. My films and, my experience of existence on film comes from the exclusive use of audio-visual materials taken in situ. My times of my shoots are adapted to those of what I am filming and involve long, solitary stays in search of a profound, intimate relationship with the spaces and objects concerned.

Anna Franceschini

CV

Anna Franceschini, 1979, Pavia.
Vive e lavora a Milano – Vive y trabaja en Milán – Lives and works in Milan

 

FORMACIÓN / FORMAZIONE / EDUCATION

2006 Diploma Film Direction, Scuola Civica di Cinema e Nuovi Media, Milano

2004-2006 Laurea Magistrale in Televisione, cinema e produzione multimediale, IULM, Milano

2001-2003 Laurea in Scienze della Comunicazione, IULM, Milano

 

EXPOSICIONES INDIVIDUALES / MOSTRE INDIVIDUALI / SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2015 Vitrine | Anna Franceschini, Gam, Torino

Media Facade | Anna Franceschini – Museion, Bolzano

Andre Romao | Anna Franceschini – Vera Cortés Art Agency, Lisbona

Mechanically Yours – Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf

2014 Lezioni di Italiano – Fiorucci ArtTrust, Londra

Laws Of Attraction – Spike Island, Bristol

L’anno venturo alla città di Cosa – Con M. Nasini – Gasconade Guest, Ansedonia

Open Studio At Macro, Macro, Roma

The dDiva who became an alphabet, Elisa Platteau Gallery, Bruxelles

Before they break, before they die, Vistamare / Benedetta Spalletti, Pescara

2013 ‘facing Mercurio’ Rebecca Digne / Anna Franceschini, Jeanine Hofland Contemporary Art, Amsterdam

Splendid IsThe Light InThe City Of Night, a cura di A. Viliani, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Parigi*

Es Ist Verdammt Heiss Hier, a cura di M. Farronato, Fondazione Bevilaqua La Masa, Venezia

‘for In And Out, Above, About, Below, ’tis Nothing But A Magic Shadow- Show’ Act Ii, The Italian Academy/Columbia University, NewYork

Equinox. Almost A Tryptic, a cura di C. Vecchiarelli, The Emily Harvey Foundation, NewYork

2012 The Stuffed Shirt, Peep- Hole, Milano

Halation, a cura di C. Fitzpatrick, Objectif Exhibitions, Anversa

A siberian girl, a cura di L. Barreca, Ex Elettrofonica, Roma

Subjective Projectiones / Anna Franceschini, a cura di A. Rabottini, Bielefelder Kunstverein, Bielefeld

2011 Let’s Fuuuuck! I’ll Fuck Anything That Mooooves!, a cura di M. Farronato e R. Selvaggio, Volcano Extravaganza, Stromboli

To Know AThingYou Must Call It By Its Name, a cura di A. Salvadori, Castello Malaspina, Fosdinovo

Thea Djordjatze: Quite Speech In Wide Circulation /// SCREENING ROOM: ANNA FRANCESCHINI, a cura di Wim Walpurt, Kiosk Gallery, Gent

 

EXPOSICIONES COLECTIVAS, BECAS Y PREMIOS / MOSTRE COLLETTIVE, BORSE DI STUDIO E PREMI / GROUP EXHIBITIONS, AWARDS, CURATORIAL PROJECTS

(selección / selezione / selection)

2015 Collectionner Les Presents, esposizione delle nuove acquisizioni, Les Abbatoirs,Tolosa

Screen Series | Displaced Agency, a cura di Xanthe Dobbie e Annabelle Lacroix, Blindiside, Melbourne

Milk Revolution, a cura di I.

Marotta e A. Baccin – American Academy in Rome, Roma

2014 Pre Post Alphabet, a cura di E. Fabbris e G. del Vecchio, Museo Nitsch, Napoli

Glitch. InterferenzeTra arte e cinema in Italia, a cura di D. Giannella – PAC | Padiglione Arte Contemporanea, Milano

Un Rumore Bianco, a cura di A. Bruciati, Assab One, Milano

WildThings, a cura di J. Laia,The Green Parrot, Barcellona

Score, a cura di S. Brill e A. Cestelli Guidi, MARCO, Vigo

DreamsThat Money Can’t Buy, un progetto di CURA, MAXXI, Roma

Enchanted:The Poetics Of Wonder, a cura di I. Gianni, Furini ArteContemporanea, Arezzo

Non Potendomi Arrampicare Sulle Nuvole, Presi per Le Colline, a cura di E. Fabbris, sedi varie, Valdagno

Indiemovingimage, a cura di J. Laia, MNAC – Museu do Chiado, Lisbona*

To Continue. NotesTowards A Sculpture Cycle. Second Chapter: Vision, a cura di I. Gianni e C. Canziani, Nomas Foundation, Roma

2013 OneThousand Four Hundred And Sixty, Peep-Hole, Milano

One Day The Day Will Come When The Day Will Not Come, a cura di M. Farronato, Futura, Praga

Het Plateau Effect, a cura di E.

Carels,The Zebrastraat, Gent

Non È Un Paese Per Vecchi?, a cura di A. Croci e F. Florian, Palazzo Ducale, Genova*

The Perfect Marble Face, a cura di J. Ots, Elisa Platteau Gallery, Bruxelles

Green Flower Street, a cura di A.R. Paris,Tatiana Kourochkina Gallery, Istanbul

The World Has Already Been Filmed. Now It Is Time To Transform It, a cura di M.R. Sossai, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Istanbul

It Is A Place Of Force, a cura di L. Alavanou, Remap4, Atene

Chinese Whispers, a cura di A. Baccin, L. Francesconi, I. Gianni, I. Marotta, C. Paissan, cura.basement, Roma

The 338 Hours Cineclub, a cura di R. Doubal, A. Steadman, E. Vincent, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo,Torino

Traces Of Life, a cura di A. Roger- Paris, Wentrup Gallery, Berlino

Extra Large, MacroTestaccio, Roma

“Wanna Be A Masterpiece”, a cura di I. Marotta, ISCP Gallery, New York

2012 Premio NewYork, Ministero degli Affari Esteri

Premio TERNA

Premio MacroAmici, Roma

Premio d’Arte Contemporanea Ermanno Casoli

The Flying Carpets, a cura di Philippe-Alain Michaud, Villa Medici, Roma / Les Abbatoirs, Tolosa*

Notturno, a cura di P. Caravati, Unosolo Project Space, Milano

Carta Bianca, a cura di C. Guida, Museo d’arte contemporanea Villa Croce, Genova

The Eleventh Hour, a cura di M. Novotny, Futura, Praga

AText Is AThing, a cura di A. Rabottini e V. de Bellis, VISTAMARE, Pescara

2011 Premio Ariane de Rothschild – menzione d’onore

Ariane the Rothschild Prize, a cura di L. Barreca e M. Smarrelli, Palazzo Reale, Milano

2010 Videoreport_Italia 2008-09, a cura di Andrea Bruciati, GC.AC, Monfalcone*

Rijksakademie Open Studio, Amsterdam*

Don’t Look Now – Non Voltarti Adesso, a cura di Milovan Farronato, Ca’ Pesaro, Venezia*

2008 I Festival del Cine Italiano de Madrid – premio per il miglior cortometraggio, menzione speciale

TFF /Torino Film Festival – premio distribuzione

*Catalogo

 



Artwork in Exhibition