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The work 'Spazio elastico' by the late Gianni Colombo returns to the Venice Biennale this year and can be appreciated with fresh thinking once again. The original work from this boundary breaking artist offers us threads for contemporary thought.

Gianni Colombo, born in 1937, Milan, was a fundamental figure during the rise of Kinetic art, which developed during the fifties and sixties. His work was so innovative at the time that his attitudes towards the static boundaries that separated spectator from art, sculpture etc. As a founder of Gruppo T, a group of artists who were profoundly interested in Kinetic art, Gianni Colombo proposed that art be more kinetic, powered and optical, and also provide a clear role for the spectators’ perceptions by creating interactive spaces.

 

His work is highly regarded as the first steps that have come to define a thread of discourse in international contemporary art world as space and installation being given life by through the interaction and participation of the spectator. His work, ‘Spazio Elastico’ (1967) featured at the Venice Biennale in 1968, winning him a prize and has been recreated and returned to the prestigious art fair for another outing.

The piece is set within a darkened room, into which the spectators walk and they are confronted by glowing network of elastic strings, which form the plan of a three dimensional cube. The spectators’ perceptions are quickly tested by the tweaking and shifting strings that appear to shift and grow, distorting what is first perceived to be a solid network but ultimately challenging it (even adding an element of motion sickness).

  

Interactive art is a popular concept in today’s contemporary movements and, with a lot of the world’s media and technology becoming increasingly interactive, this attitude towards art seems more contemporary than before. The network of glowing lines also resonate the online world we now live in. The shifting threads within the piece can be likened to the perception manipulating abilities that the online world has on us, positive or negative. If you are lucky enough to be exploring the Biennale this season then I suggest you go and experience Gianni Colombo’s exhibition and approach the work with knowledge of the original, boundary breaking concept and also consider current topics surrounding the visual themes presented in ‘Spazio Elastico’.

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Written by Ben Taylor

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