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There are two young fish swimming next to each other and they meet an older fish who, swimming in the opposite direction, waves to them and then says, ‘Good morning guys. How’s the water?” The two young fish continue swimming for a while, and then one of them looks at the other and asks “what the hell is the water like?”

This is water: in May 2005, David Foster Wallace gave a graduation speech at Kenyon College, Ohio. That text is part of This is water, a collection of short stories published in 2009.

We are immersed in an invisible storm, the atmosphere we inhabit is literally criss-crossed by waves carrying information. Pixels and bits, tiny particles silently make up every moment of our experience. Organic sets of discontinuous samples – polygons, scripts – modifiable at any time, take the shape of our visions. Point structures and discrete lines assemble in an infinity of sequences, in various dimensions and levels of detail.

Impenetrable is an investigation into the superficial nature of the interface, where the interactions between bodies become visible space, a mathematical sign to be contemplated and transmitted, but it is also a study on the essence of the pictorial and its expressive potential in the contemporary.

Giulio Frigo is one of the most significant artists on the contemporary Italian scene for his investigation into the modulation of light and his study of colour, which have enabled him to achieve innovative levels in the field of artistic representation.

The exhibition invites us to reflect on the interdependence of the analogue reality of sensation with the virtual and discrete reality of computation.
In the large grandstand overlooking the indoor pool of the Cozzi pool, the artist presents his new complex installation, consisting of two large paintings and a corridor of pvc pipes that visitors can walk through. The route continues in the old mosaic bath from the 1930s, a space normally inaccessible to the public, reopened on the occasion of the exhibition and hosting the soundtrack composed by Carlo Boccadoro, artistic director of the Sentieri Selvaggi ensemble.

Like a sound counterpart to the pixel, Boccadoro juxtaposes the paintings with a granular sound, which spreads through the space like a set of sound clusters. Musical micro-events, with high, hyper-defined sounds obtained with classical instrumentation, establishing a relationship of variable consonance between the visible and audible.

Video Sound Art festival since 2011 has supported the emergence of new productions, reflecting on the changes in installation language as the outcome of a process of hybridisation of traditional disciplines: sculpture, architecture, cinema, theatre. Over the years, the works have been presented to the public in exhibition contexts far from the ordinary circuits, with the intention of testing the adaptability of art in society: group exhibitions in public schools, basements, theatres. Once again this year the exhibition dimension transforms the sports facilities, bringing artistic productions into dialogue with contemporary critics and coexisting – during the autumn months – with the swimming activity.The exhibition project was the winner for curatorial quality in the framework of the call Exhibit Program – promoted by the General Directorate of Contemporary Creativity of MiBACT.


THE REFLECTING POOL
Impenetrable
II Chapter
16 October – 16 November
Cozzi swimming pool
Curated by Laura Lamonea
Sonorisation composed by Carlo Boccadoro artistic director of the Sentieri Selvaggi ensemble.

X edition
Impenetrable
16 October – 16 November Cozzi swimming pool

With the support of:
Fondazione Cariplo
Regione Lombardia
Directorate of Cultural Affairs of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile (DIRAC)

With the contribution of:
MiBACT

With the patronage of:
Comune di Milano

Partner:
Milanosport
Galleria Francesca Minini
Associazione Le Belle Arti
Studio Mosae

In collaboration with:
Sentieri selvaggi