E… se non ci fosse la scrittura?
Studio 3 hosts the large site-specific installation by Armenian artist Mikayel Ohanjanyan, who for the occasion creates a work specially designed for the premises of Assab One. Five basalt blocks of various sizes, wrapped in steel cables firmly anchor them to the ground vigorously, occupy the entire exhibition space with great intensity. The result of the artist’s latest research, the work starts from a reflection on the theme of connections, exploring their different physical or metaphysical manifestations: interpersonal bonds, those with nature and the universe, with our inner and outer worlds. On the surfaces of the stone elements some lead-cast shards repeatedly bear a phrase: “And… If there was no writing?”.
Ohanjanyan draws from ancient poems and tales about the emergence of writing, highlighting its value in human existence and the creation of bonds by interweaving his research with the history of the place hosting the installation. The title of the exhibition poses a provocative question inviting us to rethink the symbolic meaning of writing in a space that once, inside the GEA printing factory, had the role of cramming the paper used for printing. “Writing, like bonds, – explains curator Mazdak Faiznia – with all its richness, becomes indispensable for a new impulse and a new path, a crucial point where the spark towards the unknown is ignited, requiring us to go beyond the boundaries of our personality and, in truth, to discover ourselves”.
