Madre in Naples presents the world premiere of Adrian Paci's new video

Madre, Donnaregina Museum of Contemporary Art in Naples, presents the world premiere of Merging Bodies (2024), the new video by Adrian Paci (born 1969 in Shkodra, Albania; lives and works between Milan and Shkodra). The work will be screened at the museum from Oct. 25 to Nov. 6, and on Nov. 8 there will be a live performance of Sofër, accompanied by a chamber composition by Admir Shkurtaj, author of the video’s soundtrack. This project is part of the itinerary of Madre, which promotes artistic initiatives of international scope, in dialogue with contemporary social and cultural reality, with a particular focus on the Campania context.

Commissioned on the occasion of the centenary of Gruppo Laminazione Sottile, founded in Naples in 1923 by the Moschini family, Merging Bodies explores the interconnections between industry, labor and art. The work reinterprets the factory not only as a place of production, but as a space of transformation, in which metal and those who work it reflect on themselves, opening up new possibilities that transcend the limits of the traditional industrial cycle. At the heart of Merging Bodies is a deep reflection on the connection between humans and the working environment. In this perspective, the factory becomes a living and complex organism, in which the boundaries between man and machine, between natural and artificial, become blurred. The human and industrial bodies intertwine in a continuous dialogue, creating a single organism essential to the work itself.

"The work seeks to explore a dimension in continuous becoming and transformation. The fusion of bodies(merging bodies) is not only the theme of the work, but becomes its founding element, manifesting itself through the union of images, editing rhythms and sound processing," says Adrian Paci.

This perspective overturns the traditional view of the factory as a place of alienation, proposing it instead as a space of collaboration and regeneration. Carefully crafted aluminum acquires new forms and meanings that transcend its original function. Paci investigates the idea of the factory as a place where identities and relationships are shaped, amplifying the challenges and opportunities of the human condition in the contemporary era. For the artist, the factory is transformed into a collective body, in which workers and matter share and reflect a common destiny. It is no longer just a working environment, but becomes a space of conscious participation and mutual transformation, where product and producer influence each other. With Merging Bodies, Paci presents a vision of the factory as a dynamic, multi-species organism in which materials and workers come together in a creative and vital synergy.

"Merging Bodies does not simply observe matter, faces and gestures of those who work in the factory, but transforms this collective work into a creative act, where every gesture, thought and sound come together to give life to something unique and profound," says Andrea Viliani in his critical essay. “Paci’s factory produces beauty precisely because it invites us to look with new eyes at what we took for granted, and to discover new possibilities. The collective body of this factory is not only that of the skilled workers caught on camera, but includes all those involved in the work’s production process.”

“Madre is delighted to welcome the world premiere presentation of the work by Adrian Paci, an artist who has always interpreted with depth the reflection on the relationship between human beings and matter,” say Angela Tecce, President of the Fondazione Donnaregina per le arti contemporanee, and Eva Fabbris, Director of the Madre Museum. "Thanks to an important private commission, his vocation as a storyteller is confronted with the theme of the factory, which Paci, in evocative moving images, combines with a humanistic approach to the representation of labor. Merging Bodies is thus authoritatively inscribed in the roster of works produced by artists of international relevance who express aesthetic and political attention to the Campania region."

The video work Merging Bodies will be presented on November 2, 2024 at Gallerie d’Italia in Turin, Italy, on the occasion of Artissima 2024. For the occasion, admission to Sala Turinetti and the entire main floor of the Piazza San Carlo museum will be free with extended hours until 11:30 p.m.

Image: Adrian Paci, Merging Bodies (video, 2024, 23’22’’). Directed by Adrian Paci; Director of Photography and Editing Erfort Kuke; Soundtrack Admir Shkurtaj; Production Assistant Francesca Rossi.

Madre in Naples presents the world premiere of Adrian Paci's new video

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