Art Office

The Aether exhibition showcases nature's resilient ability to survive and endure human intervention.

The title of the exhibition, Aether, refers, among other things, to the Greek god of the atmosphere, the upper layer of air, which the gods breathe, as opposed to the 'ordinary', earthly air that mortals breathe. According to the ancient Greeks, the atmosphere was the substance from which light was formed. Aether is the soul of the world, it envelops mountain peaks, clouds, stars, the sun and the moon.

Spacing
In 'Aether', Licari's sculptures and installations allude to the symbolic 'in-between space' that arises in the interweaving of humans and gods and heaven and earth. The camera obscura transforms the upper floor of the Coach House into a magical world in which the garden and the historic interior intertwine.

Giuseppe Licari
Giuseppe Licari (1980, Italy) studied at the AKI in Enschede, the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. He often develops projects related to industrial and natural heritage on location, including in Sicily, Rotterdam, Idaho, Maastricht and in collaboration with partners such as the Natural History Museum Rotterdam and TU Delft. His work has been shown in Boise (2016) in America, Tent Rotterdam (2017), Museum Schloss Moyland (2020) and the Japanese Palace in Dresden (2022).

Aether can be seen from 13 July 2022 to 8 January 2023 in Castle Wijlre

Terraformation was partly realized thanks to a contribution from the scheme Development and Research Grants (R&D)† With this contribution, CBK Rotterdam gives Rotterdam visual artists the opportunity to further develop their practice and increase their visibility.

Image: Terraformation (Chemical Time Bomb), 2016–2022 Twelve ceramic spheres, Ø 35 cm each, Clay, snails and soil