Fakewhale in dialogue with Marcello Maloberti
With his new project METAL PANIC, showcased at PAC in Milan, Marcello Maloberti transforms the space into a contemporary construction site poised between precariousness and possibility. The exhibition unfolds as a dynamic interplay of site-specific installations, engaging with the Pavilion’s unique architecture and a narrative that weaves together autobiography, collective memory, and reflections on Milan. At FakeWhale, we had the privilege of exploring the core themes of Maloberti’s artistic practice, from material choices to the role of performativity, and the dialogue between past and future in art.
Fakewhale: “Maloberti envisions the entire exhibition as a contemporary construction site in continuous transformation, where everything seems suspended and potentially possible. He alters the physical space by modifying the building’s aesthetics with the site-specific installation ULTIMATUM (2024), which partially covers the façade with galvanized steel elements.”
How did the idea for such a multifaceted project come to life? We’re curious to know what your initial thoughts were regarding the setup of this exhibition and how you worked in relation to the PAC space.
Marcello Maloberti: The first vision I had of the “METAL PANIC” exhibition was the engraving of my name and that of curator Diego Sileo on galvanized steel plates. This element became the common thread throughout the exhibition. The steel allowed me to create an aesthetic related to “work in progress,” I liked the idea of exploiting the space as an environment in constant transformation, creating a dynamic display that would engage the viewer. The audience will have the feeling of “being among things” and being part of them. The design of the exhibition took a long time because it was conceived and designed specifically for the PAC spaces. The architecture of the Pavilion, the only public space for Contemporary art in Milan, designed by Ignazio Gardella, is very particular and I wanted the different installations to be able to dialogue precisely with it.
Milan seems to stand at the center of your work, serving as a constant source of inspiration. What does this city represent to you? We imagine it as a place filled with personal memories, almost a stage for your creative journey over the years.
Milan is the city that welcomed me. I was born in Codogno and lived in Casalpusterlengo, in the province of Lodi, for many years. There was an important transition from what can be called a small-town life to a big city like Milan. Within “METAL PANIC” it was important for me to mark these two focal points of my life. I am reminded of a writing by Pasolini “La Divina Mimesis” (1975) (“The Divine Mimesis”) in which he states that the first things you study shape your roots. I like to talk about something I know well, Milan represents the roots for me. This duality persists in my work, I began by recounting the domestic dimension I was living in Casalpusterlengo until I got to bring the urban fabric of the city of Milan, which has accompanied my artistic career, inside my work. The exhibition becomes a kind of city portrait, not figurative or didactic. The most estranging things in the end are those closest to us.
METAL PANIC has been described and presented as a kind of “artist’s book” that gathers central themes from your body of work. What role does the written word – elevated to the form of “poetry” play in your artistic practice? How do you relate to language?
I AM INHABITED BY THE WORD. The word is at the center of my production, starting from the titles of my works up to the MARTELLATE (HAMMERED) that have been part of my practice for more than thirty years. Each Martellate is a fragment that tells about me and my personality; they can be described as absent words/images. They are direct and frontal, brash or poetic. They are sentences IN WRITTEN VOICE. Martellate have taken different forms over the years, from posting on the dedicated social page to framed works to making light installations of them. The word is always a synthetic act; they are fragments of books that I will never write.
The use of “industrial” or unconventional materials recurs throughout your works. How do you approach objects sourced from such references? How would you define your relationship with sculpture as a medium (in its expanded sense)?
More than sculpture in my work we speak of installation or object. In the case of “METAL PANIC” all those elements necessary for its installation are also part of the work. Every detail was studied so that a visual coherence of the site would be maintained. For me, it is very important to create installations that can dialogue directly with the viewer and with the space; in the case of TILT (2024), for example, a guardrail placed on marble plinths cuts through the exhibition space, forcing the public to follow a predetermined path to enjoy the exhibition. An object is able to tell a world; it opens up new, ever-changing narratives. Objects are evocations of stories that are read by the viewer according to his or her own experience. They open up flavors, temperatures.
Another recurring theme in your work is “reversal”, where flipping a sign or a font takes on an almost political and undoubtedly symbolic significance. What does this idea of visual (and conceptual) subversion mean to you?
The overturning creates a kind of short circuit. At PAC we find it in the overturned sign of Milan with the work M (2024). A political gesture that I decided to place immediately at the entrance to the exhibition. The title is a reference to Mussolini’s “M” while the upturned position of the sign alludes to the dictator’s body hanging upside down in Piazzale Loreto on April 29, 1945. The reversal is also found in the work CIELO (SKY) (2024) where the mechanical arm of a truck supports the neon word that gives the work its title, upside down compared to the viewer. An important reference is certainly Piero Manzoni with his Socle du Monde (1961) that lends the support of the World to an upturned pedestal. In the case of CIELO I like to think that the word can only be read correctly by the celestial inhabitants. It becomes a play between high and low, a monument/anti-monument that creates a visual vertigo.
The ULTIMATUM installation transforms the aesthetics of the PAC, reshaping its physical space. How did you imagine the dialogue between the work and the surrounding architecture? What role does “site-specificity” play in your practice?
Almost all the works presented at the exhibition were conceived for the Pavilion spaces, thus becoming site-specific. The exhibition was conceived as a tailor-made project for the PAC. Space for me plays a fundamental role in the construction of the work. For ULTIMATUM (2024), the approach to the architecture was sharp, cutting. I wanted to cover the façade in order to instil in the viewer the doubt that the PAC was actually being renovated. I like to insert an aspect of ambiguity into the work. The spectator’s reaction becomes performative. My work stems from a study of the context around me, making it emerge and speak.
How do you see the role of sound and the reinterpretation of objects in enriching the visitor’s experience and creating unexpected connections with the past?
Sound for me has a very significant value, it is able to fill in gaps and accompany the audience in their enjoyment of the exhibition, creating direct relationships and conditioning the vision of the other works in the space. In the case of METAL PANIC (2024), the video performance that gives the exhibition its title, sound becomes predominant. It is a rifle score. A rifle is transformed into a musical instrument, a kind of Pan flute. The sound generates an “out-of-place”, sudden concert characterized by sonorous frights that manifest the power of breathing. The sound, almost prehistoric, becomes a kind of alarm. The idea for this work came from seeing an image in an old issue of National Geographic, which recounted that in Tuscany, and later I discovered also in the Nordic countries, it is a tradition to sound the gun barrels at the end of a hunt. The work, conceived as a performative act on video, shows the musician’s fatigue, giving even more weight to the repeated gesture. In the video, the function of the object is completely overturned, once again. The work thus central becomes a presence that animates and inhabits the exhibition space and, in some way, welcomes the public.
How important is it for you to use autobiography as a means to engage with a broader audience and convey a universal message?
Rather than talking about autobiography, I think it is important to be traversed by experiences. In my work I try to materialize absences. The artist for me must make what is personal ‘World’. I DO NOT USE MY HANDS I USE THE HANDS OF THE WORLD.
Can you tell us about the performative aspects of this large-scale project? How do you conceive the interaction between performer and spectator, and what role do you assign to audience participation in completing the meaning of your works?
Performativity is an aspect that always runs through my productions. Be it collage, light installations, video or photography. My works, presented in both private and public spaces, always favour interaction with the viewer. As I always say, THE PUBLIC IS MY BODY. In ‘METAL PANIC’, the spectator activates the installations present through his or her passage and experience of the exhibition. At the opening I then chose to present two performative installations, SIRONI (2024) and BOLIDI (2024), which were initiated by selected performers, at the end of the opening evening, however, the installation remained, as if waiting for a new activation. Interaction with the audience creates shapes, LIFE IS SHAPE BETWEEN SHAPES.
Stepping outside the PAC space, the exhibition concludes with a reflection on the relationship between past and present. What is your personal connection with time? When it comes to your work, do you see art as a tool to preserve the past or to reinterpret it in a transformative, forward-looking way?
We live in a society whose time is now marked by social media. We live fragments of fragments, like contemporary ruins. I think that ART IS AT A TIME WHEN IT MUST SAY AND NOT SHOW. Art must speak and offer the possibility of a reversal. Art is not made for today, it is made for the past and the future, and I would like to quote Giorgio Agamben who, referring to Ennio Flaiano, says ‘I make my projects for the past’.
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Founded in 2021, Fakewhale advocates the digital art market's evolution. Viewing NFT technology as a container for art, and leveraging the expansive scope of digital culture, Fakewhale strives to shape a new ecosystem in which art and technology become the starting point, rather than the final destination.
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