Elisabetta Benassi\u2019s solo show, The Sovereign Individual, presents a selection of the artist\u2019s recent works, including two installations specially devised for the gallery space. At the heart of the artist\u2019s line of thinking lie the concepts of \u2018self-ownership\u2019 and the individual\u2019s \u2018absolute sovereignty\u2019 over himself, and in relation to the social world.<\/p>\n
As a central myth of 19th century liberalism, the sovereign individual is capable of achieving an absolute mastery of his destiny, while displaying a mistrust of social bonds as well as any universal emancipation project. In the contemporary debate, the model of an extremely liberalist subject\u2014thoroughly at ease in a smithereened world where all collective passion is blurred and only individual will and private ventures have any value\u2014returns in the form of invisible and indisputable ideology.<\/p>\n
Elisabetta Benassi has focused her exhibition project on this \u201csovereign individual\u2019s\u201d desire to escape from the chaos of the real world, its constraints and its inevitable conflicts, by coming up with an imaginary solution to the contradiction between individual salvation and collective catastrophe. This involves individual \u201crefuges\u201d, shelters hidden in the trunks of large artificial trees, which might be scattered and hidden in nature, inspired by those observation points used in wars by lookouts and snipers, as well as by fake trees made to conceal ubiquitous aerials for mobile phones.<\/p>\n
At the gallery\u2019s entrance, the upper part of the artificial \u201ctrunk\u201d of a large palm tree and its foliage, taking up much of the space, creates a chimaera-like access to the pseudo-utopian dimension explored in the exhibition. In the last room, three tall \u201cshafts\u201d made of white plaster each have a \u201cdoor\u201d giving access to a hidden space, the \u201crefuge\u201d. The real size of all these elements creates a powerful visual contrast with the architecture, which will certainly surprise visitors. The gallery\u2019s other areas are filled with a series of two- and three-dimensional pieces (photographs and objects), which explore the \u2018sovereign individual\u2019 theme by way of visual and conceptual references.<\/p>\n
Elisabetta Benassi is born in Rome in 1966. She lives and work in Rome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1228,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-5737","expositions","type-expositions","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n