Umano e disumano
Pardes laboratorio di ricerca
Mirano, Italy
Umano&Disumano ("human and inhuman") was a group exhibition curated by Maria Luisa Trevisan for PaRDeS – Laboratorio di Ricerca d'Arte Contemporanea, the contemporary art research space on Via Miranese in Mirano, in the province of Venice, with a second venue at the Art Factory in Venice. Held under the patronage of the Comune di Mirano, it gathered more than thirty artists of different backgrounds and generations, from Mark Kostabi, Ugo Nespolo, Omar Galliani and Tobia Ravà to the crypto art duo Hackatao, with works spanning drawing, comics, painting, sculpture, photography, assemblage, video, performance and environmental installation. The opening included performances by Erika Bonato and Alberto Salvetti, and the show was part of a wider cultural project of PaRDeS that also hosted talks and book presentations.
Federico Clapis was among the exhibiting artists. The project set out to raise awareness of pressing social and cultural questions, and named among them the deep change brought by the mass use of social networks, alongside climate change and migration. The theme sits close to Clapis' sculpture of those years, which used the smartphone and the screen to observe how digital technology alters intimacy and the body. The invitation shows a grid of images of the works on view, set against a blue background with the names of all the participants.
The exhibition placed Clapis' work in a dialogue between established Italian figures and younger artists engaged with digital culture.