Viscera — Dennis Del Favero

an exhibition curated by Recontemporary
in collaboration with Paratissima and Cavallerizza Reale
with the patronage of the City of Turin
and the support of the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation

Recontemporary, in collaboration with Paratissima and Cavallerizza Reale, presents the exhibition VISCERA, the first solo exhibition in Italy by Australian artist Dennis Del Favero.
Seven video works with high technological content including motion tracking, 3D video and artificial intelligence, located between the spaces of Recontemporary in Via Gaudenzio Ferrari 12/b and those of the Cavallerizza Reale in Via Giuseppe Verdi 9 in Turin, explore the relationship between man and nature.
The dictionary defines with the word “viscera” the innermost part of the human body, animal or of the earth itself. In the same way, Dennis Del Favero’s exhibition explores the most intimate, hidden and internal parts of nature and how man deals with it.

Today more than ever it is important to address environmental emergencies and Del Favero is capable of extending our sensitivity in a delicate and at the same time intense way.

“As this summer, as in previous years, countless fires are destroying vast areas of forests and habitats in the landscapes of Canada, Australia, California, Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey or Siberia and the melting of Arctic icebergs and permafrost in Alaska inexorably progresses, Dennis Del Favero embarks on a series of fundamental works that make palpable the implications of such planetary destruction and the broader implications of global warming,” Professor Ursula Frohne introduces the exhibition in the catalogue.

Monumental videos immerse the viewer first in a fire, then in a stormy sea, thanks to the use of special glasses created by the expert technological research of the iCinema Center in Sydney. The public is thus pushed to confront human impotence in the face of an ongoing change that is too big for us as individuals. However, the exhibition encourages us to act. Impossibility is dissolved by the evidence that, despite being a small particle of the whole, as in Nebula or Slipstream, as a community we are capable of giving rise to movements and actions. A shared commitment can therefore help us improve the future and seek solutions for a more harmonious coexistence between man and nature. The advanced technologies produced by the iCinema Center based on the artist’s design allow the message to express itself in an imposing way. The extreme precision and technological innovation of the software used allow the spectator to immerse himself in the monumental projections and images of Dennis Del Favero’s work, experiencing first-hand the power of a nature that rebels and the brief stay of man within it.

As the surface and the viscera are shaped and modified in a continuous internal motion, the two interactive works Nebula from Recontemporary and Penumbra in Cavallerizza Reale, change thanks to algorithms and artificial intelligence, each time presenting themselves differently depending on the viewer and their movements. A further confirmation that human artifice can be a good ally of nature when expertly programmed.

Funded by the Australian Research Council in 2021, Dennis del Favero continues his research on these phenomena thanks to a prestigious scholarship for his Burning Landscapes project that allows him to collaborate with a team of artificial intelligence, computer science and fire and climate scientists at international universities to develop projections elaborated through the use of artificial intelligence of the new dimensions of burning fires that make their behavior more predictable to save human lives.

There is no specific order of visit between the two locations, located 5 minutes walking distance from each other. Both locations are fully accessible.