3 Body Configurations. Claude Cahun – VALIE EXPORT – Ottonella Mocellin

3 Body Configurations is inspired by the title of a VALIE EXPORT project developed from 1972 to 1982.

Starting from the relationship of the body of the artist who acts in public and private spaces, the exhibition offers the opportunity to see for the first time in Italy an careful selection of photographic works by Claude Cahun (thanks to the collaboration with Jersey Heritage Collection), an equally significant selection of photographic works by VALIE EXPORT (thanks to the collaboration with the Museion of Bolzano and the Taddaeus Ropac Gallery in Salzburg) and a re-presentation of a Ottonella Mocellin's photographic project of the late nineties. The exhibition is documented by a precious publication (Italian / English) published by Corraini with unpublished texts by Fabiola Naldi, Maura Pozzati and the philosopher Francesca Rigotti.

The exhibition presents itself as the opportunity to deepen an area of ​​the history of art of the 20th century widely characterized by body, photography and performance. The three important presences underline the aesthetic and design reflection of a physical and mental occupation of one's identity, of one's own design practice and of the need to investigate the relationships between the artist's body and the space of architecture, nature and illusion. For Claude Cahun, VALIE EXPORT, Ottonella Mocellin, photography is an infinite, immobile and undisputed witness to a practice of a moment.

For the first time in Italy 38 photographic works by Claude Cahun, stage name of Lucy Renée Mathilde Schwob (Nantes, 25 October 1894 - Saint Helier, 8 December 1954), artist, photographer, activist and writer, exponent of Surrealism will be exhibited . The distinctive feature of Cahun's research is the constant visual investigation of one's identity, beyond gender boundaries. The male and female offer themselves together in a new identity proposal. A fundamental presence in the Surrealist Paris, where she assiduously attends Andrè Breton, Tristan Tzara, Salvador Dalì, Man Ray, Philippe Soupault, Henri Michaux, Pierre Albert Birot, Roger Caillois, George Bataille, Cahun will never stop photographing and photographing herself even when, in company of the company and inspiring muse Suzanne Malherbe (aka Marcel Moore), will leave the French capital to retire to the Isle of Jersey until 1954, the year of her death.

VALIE EXPORT, pseudonym of Waltraud Lehner (Linz, 1940) is one of the most important artistic presences of the Second Avant-gardes of the 20th Century. In 1967 she renounced both her father's and her husband's name to adopt a new identity inspired by the name of the most popular brand of cigarettes in Austria. The name of VALIE EXPORT, "exporter of values ​​and political and social transformations", is the crucial moment in which the artist performs a symbolic act of social, political and aesthetic self-determination. In her works - many exhibited in the collections of important museums such as the Center Pompidou, the Tate Modern, the Reina Sophia, the MOMA and the MOCA, Los Angeles - the ideological, political and conceptual practice of being an artist and woman committed to experience different places and media. The project on display evokes the relationship between body language and the urban environment, questioning the place of women in public space.

Ottonella Mocellin (Milan, 1966) is an important Italian artist who has been collaborating since 2002 with the artist and partner Nicola Pellegrini. Between 1984 and 1993 both lived in London where they studied Public Art and Architecture. Between 2001 and 2002 they stayed in New York representing Italy for the PS1 International Studio Program. A distinctive and immediately recognizable feature is the continuous expressive and conceptual urgency that includes installations, videos, photographs and performances, and which aims to investigate conflicts, emotions, dialogue within human relationships. Her work has been exhibited in important Italian and foreign museums and galleries, in Italy and abroad. Since 2009 she teaches Performing Techniques at the Carrara Academy in Bergamo. She lives and works in Berlin.