Rug Burnt - The Dream textile / 80 x 120 cm - Inscription produced by combustion - Seletti

Since 2000, contemporary Italian artist Loredana Longo has been working on the explicit use of written language. Her first works using rugs date from 2013. Her collection of ''Burnt'' rugs comes from the Second Life exhibition that the artist presented for the first time in London in 2019. In this artistic project, the Orient rug becomes the instrument that gives life to a series of phrases embedded in the material through a process of combustion. These phrases pronounced by different politicians have left their mark on our culture and are anchored in popular imagery: '''THE DREAM SHALL NEVER DIE'' (Ted Kennedy, 1980), ''UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL''(Winston Churchill, 1941), ''FREEDOM IS MORE POWERFUL THAN FEAR'' (Barack Obama, 2015) , ''DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH'' (Bernie Sanders, 2016), ''THERE IS NO CHANGE WITHOUT RISKS''(Barack Obama, 2014), ''YOUR VOICE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD (Barack Obama, 2008). Carefully thought out, these concise, powerful phrases are statements of "libertarian" principles that can easily be transposed into everyday life: hope, aspiration for tolerance and respect. They can pass from the political and social sphere to the purely personal. But they also take on the appearance of aphorisms which, outside the context in which the words were spoken, become impoverished and innocuous, then resounding like slogans, almost falling under advertising marketing. The inscriptions are made through a combustion process delimited by letter moulds that mark the path of the fire. From the burnt and blackened fibre, the letters arise. It’s fire that “designs” these patterns, transforming burning into a reproducible matrix on rugs. As such, the artistic gesture exorcises the destructive value of the burning to transform it into a decorative motif. These ''burnt'' images are grafted onto a pre-existing ''territory'': the Orient rug marked by cultural and visual values. The artistic intervention of combustion on the rug is an attempt at dialogue and exchange, but also a violent, superimposed act. The engraving is obtained by removing material: removal that has a violent connotation. This engraving can be interpreted as an attempt to leave a permanent imprint on the tradition of another culture. We can consider Loredana Longo's project as a kind of collective work that results from the contribution of the craftsperson who made the rug and the intervention of the artist: two different sensitivities, two different languages that join or clash… The phrases inscribed were pronounced at key moments in contemporary history. Through the simultaneously destructive and purifying effect of fire, these phrases take on different shades of meaning and encourage deep reflection. Loredana Longo's approach is interesting and provocative, which can be interpreted in the opposite way: the rug becomes a page of text - a text of good practices for everyday life, a positive mantra to repeat every day, or it can be a provocation - a criticism directed at people who think they can find truth in ready-to-“consume” phrases/slogans. Loredana Longo's work opens a window on many scenarios and can convey multiple meanings: everything is always in the eyes and hearts of the spectators.”(Marina Dacci)