The Cool Couple. Emozioni Mondiali
Curated by Francesca Lazzarini
MLZ Art Dep
Trieste, from 1st June to 21st September 2019
Opening: Saturday, 1st June at 6:30 pm
What do football and the art world have in common? It is precisely around this question that artist duo The Cool Couple have conceived the project Emozioni Mondiali, on show from 1st June to 21st September 2019 at the MLZ Art Dep gallery in Trieste.
The focal point of the installation is a console that, through a copy of Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 personalized by the artists, enables to play football engaging in a rather peculiar contest. The twenty teams, among which it is possible to choose, correspond in fact to periods or movements in the history of art as well as to current important events - from the Renaissance to dOCUMENTA (13), passing through Impressionism, Arte Povera and Post-Internet, just to name a few -, while the football players represent the artists who belong to them. So, you can decide to take the field in the role of star players like Caravaggio, Duchamp, Richter, or rely on the vigour of "younger" athletes like Wael Shawky, Jon Rafman, Zanele Muholi. Or even to shine in the light of star system's celebrities, such as Cattelan and Warhol, or to count on the genius of unconventional figures like Mladen Stilinović, Marcel Broodthaers and Santiago Sierra.
The team’s uniforms, designed by The Cool Couple following the strict technical standards imposed by the PES editing system, are displayed as abstract paintings. In the same way, as the football system is delocalizing the production of the uniforms in the Far East to save money thanks to the low-cost labour, the duo has commissioned the canvasses to a Chinese website, that has asked local painters to recreate by hand the PNG images of the t-shirts received from customers.
The exhibition is rounded out by a number of screenshots depicting key moments from previous tournaments as well as the very structure that accommodates the console and players: wooden bleachers in which are inserted the led perimeter displays like in the stadiums for advertising. The led displays of Emozioni Mondiali feature artist quotes like “Creativity takes courage” by Henri Matisse, mixed with advertising slogans of sportswear brands, including the Nike’s widely-known “Just Do It”. In the same way as the production of uniforms and the iconic construction of footballers / artists, also the interchangeability and the indistinguishability of the sport and art languages reinforce the parallelism between these two worlds.
With Emozioni Mondiali, the viewers’ active participation in an extremely popular game allows to interact with both art and football: two distant systems, at least theoretically, that within neoliberalism’s mechanisms, end up being incredibly similar.
The Cool Couple is an artist duo based in Milan, Italy, and established in 2012 by Niccolò Benetton (1986) and Simone Santilli (1987). Their research focuses on the friction points generated daily by the relationship between people and images. The idea of images as active hubs, combined with a strong attitude in the production, results in the use of several forms of expression, from fine art photography to electrostatic wipes, from meditation rooms to Chinese cover-bands. Their works have been exhibited at the Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Unseen Photo Festival, Centquatre, Les Rencontres d’Arles, MACRO, MAMbo, Galleria Civica di Trento. The artists have been selected by Fotomuseum, Winterthur for Plat(t)form 2015. TCC received the Fabbri Prize for contemporary photography in 2014, the Graziadei Prize in 2015, the Euromobil Group Under 30 Prize and the ArtVerona Under 40 Photography Prize in 2017. Niccolò and Simone are also the founders of the cover band Rui & the Rainbow Dragons.
http://thecoolcouple.co.uk
The Cool Couple. Emozioni Mondiali
Curated by Francesca Lazzarini
MLZ Art Dep
Trieste, from 1st June to 21st September 2019
Opening: Saturday, 1st June at 6:30 pm
Opening hours: Thursday - Saturday 5:00 - 7:30 pm or by appointment
Via Galatti 14
Tel.: +39 040 2606091
marco@mlzartdep.com
www.mlzartdep.com
Press Office: THE KNACK STUDIO
Tamara Lorenzi
+39 347 0712934
tamara@theknackstudio.com
info@theknackstudio.com
www.theknackstudio.com
The Cool Couple. Emozioni Mondiali
Curated by Francesca Lazzarini
MLZ Art Dep
Trieste, from 1st June to 21st September 2019
Opening: Saturday, 1st June at 6:30 pm
What do football and the art world have in common? It is precisely around this question that artist duo The Cool Couple have conceived the project Emozioni Mondiali, on show from 1st June to 21st September 2019 at the MLZ Art Dep gallery in Trieste.
The focal point of the installation is a console that, through a copy of Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 personalized by the artists, enables to play football engaging in a rather peculiar contest. The twenty teams, among which it is possible to choose, correspond in fact to periods or movements in the history of art as well as to current important events - from the Renaissance to dOCUMENTA (13), passing through Impressionism, Arte Povera and Post-Internet, just to name a few -, while the football players represent the artists who belong to them. So, you can decide to take the field in the role of star players like Caravaggio, Duchamp, Richter, or rely on the vigour of "younger" athletes like Wael Shawky, Jon Rafman, Zanele Muholi. Or even to shine in the light of star system's celebrities, such as Cattelan and Warhol, or to count on the genius of unconventional figures like Mladen Stilinović, Marcel Broodthaers and Santiago Sierra.
The team’s uniforms, designed by The Cool Couple following the strict technical standards imposed by the PES editing system, are displayed as abstract paintings. In the same way, as the football system is delocalizing the production of the uniforms in the Far East to save money thanks to the low-cost labour, the duo has commissioned the canvasses to a Chinese website, that has asked local painters to recreate by hand the PNG images of the t-shirts received from customers.
The exhibition is rounded out by a number of screenshots depicting key moments from previous tournaments as well as the very structure that accommodates the console and players: wooden bleachers in which are inserted the led perimeter displays like in the stadiums for advertising. The led displays of Emozioni Mondiali feature artist quotes like “Creativity takes courage” by Henri Matisse, mixed with advertising slogans of sportswear brands, including the Nike’s widely-known “Just Do It”. In the same way as the production of uniforms and the iconic construction of footballers / artists, also the interchangeability and the indistinguishability of the sport and art languages reinforce the parallelism between these two worlds.
With Emozioni Mondiali, the viewers’ active participation in an extremely popular game allows to interact with both art and football: two distant systems, at least theoretically, that within neoliberalism’s mechanisms, end up being incredibly similar.
The Cool Couple is an artist duo based in Milan, Italy, and established in 2012 by Niccolò Benetton (1986) and Simone Santilli (1987). Their research focuses on the friction points generated daily by the relationship between people and images. The idea of images as active hubs, combined with a strong attitude in the production, results in the use of several forms of expression, from fine art photography to electrostatic wipes, from meditation rooms to Chinese cover-bands. Their works have been exhibited at the Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Unseen Photo Festival, Centquatre, Les Rencontres d’Arles, MACRO, MAMbo, Galleria Civica di Trento. The artists have been selected by Fotomuseum, Winterthur for Plat(t)form 2015. TCC received the Fabbri Prize for contemporary photography in 2014, the Graziadei Prize in 2015, the Euromobil Group Under 30 Prize and the ArtVerona Under 40 Photography Prize in 2017. Niccolò and Simone are also the founders of the cover band Rui & the Rainbow Dragons.
http://thecoolcouple.co.uk
The Cool Couple. Emozioni Mondiali
Curated by Francesca Lazzarini
MLZ Art Dep
Trieste, from 1st June to 21st September 2019
Opening: Saturday, 1st June at 6:30 pm
Opening hours: Thursday - Saturday 5:00 - 7:30 pm or by appointment
Via Galatti 14
Tel.: +39 040 2606091
marco@mlzartdep.com
www.mlzartdep.com
Press Office: THE KNACK STUDIO
Tamara Lorenzi
+39 347 0712934
tamara@theknackstudio.com
info@theknackstudio.com
www.theknackstudio.com