Words without silence / Silence without words. Nannucci has created a new site-specific installation composed by 7 monochrome luminous neon texts spread across the exhibition space, creating a unitary route making a statement about the semantic polyvalence of colour, light and language.
For his third exhibition at Galerie Nikolaus Ruzicska in Salzburg, Maurizio Nannucci has created a
new site-specific installation composed by seven monochrome luminous neon texts spread across
the exhibition space, filling each one with coloured reflexes and creating a unitary route making a
statement about the semantic polyvalence of colour, light and language. All texts have a chiasmatic
pattern, can be read in reverse and in consequence the meaning of the writing is turned upside
down.
Blue, red, yellow, green, white, pink and orange are the used colours, as the early neon writings the
artist conceived in the sixties. The neon texts are installed in the centre of the walls and give form to
a continuous polychromatic horizon, in which colours make a fusion, turning the monochrome light
of every single neon into a scale of shades unifying all texts.
WORDS WITHOUT SILENCE / SILENCE WITHOUT WORDS
NEW HORIZONS FOR OTHER VISIONS / NEW VISIONS FOR OTHER HORIZONS
THE POSSIBLE PLAN OF THE IMPOSSIBLE / THE IMPOSSIBLE PLAN OF THE POSSIBLE
NEW TIMES FOR OTHER IDEAS / NEW IDEAS FOR OTHER TIMES
COLOURING DIFFERENT LIGHTS / LIGHTING DIFFERENT COLOURS
BLENDING THE INVISIBLE WITH THE VISIBLE / BLENDING THE VISIBLE WITH THE INVISIBLE
SAME WORDS DIFFERENT THOUGHTS / DIFFERENT WORDS SAME THOUGHTS
Nannucci's work focuses on artistic research of light, colour and language and on the use of a
variety of different media: sound, photography, video, computer, artist's books, editions and
multiples. Over the course of the years, this interdisciplinary activity has generated a rich, multiform
body of works. Totally poised towards formulating a new aesthetic order for contemporary society,
his theoretical approach elaborates and gives visibility to concepts and thoughts that reveal his
substantial thinking about the relations between culture and society and the evolution of new models
of perception and communication.
Maurizio Nannucci (1939, Florence) lives and works in Florence and south Baden. He has a long track
record (dating back to the mid-sixties) as protagonist of international artistic experimentation in the
field of Concrete Poetry and Conceptual Art, a process that has involved his developing a personal
language related to verbal and multimedia structures. His first neon lighting texts date from 1967,
when he harmonised the meaning and fluidity of writing with the lightweight properties of coloured
glass. In 1968, he established the Exempla Editions in Florence and set about promoting the non-
profit art spaces Zona (1975/1985), Zona Archives and Base / Progetti per l'arte (since 1998).
Nannucci prefers to relate his artistic approach to urban architectural spaces and public architecture
as part of a worldview whose aim is to contribute toward making art work more accessible.
The nineties brought the advent of partnerships and projects with the architects Renzo Piano,
Massimiliano Fuksas, Mario Botta, Stephan Braunfels and Nicholas Grimshaw, underscoring the
spatial component and expressive strength of his work based on light, on colour, on form and on
language. Nannucci has taken part several times in the Venice Biennale, Documenta Kassel and the
Biennials of Sao Paulo, Sydney, Istanbul and Valencia. He has had numerous one-man shows in
museums, including Lenbachhaus, Munich, 1991; Villa Arson, Nice, 1992; Villa delle Rose, Bologna,
1992; Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, 1994; Wiener Secession, Vienna, 1995; Museum Rupertinum, Salzburg,
1998; Sprengel Museum, Hanover, 2002; Mamco, Geneva, 2003; Fondazione Peggy Guggenheim,
Venezia, 2004; Musee d'art moderne, Saint Etienne, 2005; Museum Der Moderne, Salzburg, 2008;
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2010; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2011; Stazione Leopolda,
Florence, 2013.
Furthermore, we gladly point out the upcoming exhibition by Maurizio Nannucci “Art is not intended
to be perfectly transparent in meaning”, taking place at Giacomo Guidi Arte Contemporanea in Rome
from 7 December 2013 until 28 February 2014.
Exhibition images are located within the press section of our website: www.ruzicska.com/press.
On request we are sending images via email as well. For further questions Sophie Leimgruber and I
are pleased to be at your disposal. I am looking forward to your reporting, sending my best greetings
from Salzburg!
RECEPTION SUNDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2013 AT 11 AM
Opening speech by Helmut Friedel at 11.30 AM
Galerie Nikolaus Ruzicska
Faistauergasse 12 A 5020 Salzburg
Hours:
Tuesday – Friday 10 am – 6 pm
Saturday 10 am – 2 pm