5 Minutes of Wind

5 Minutes of Wind, 2022, each paper  30 x 30 cm, wind, charcoal powder, linseed oli on cotton paper ,  installation view, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venice, (In)visible fields. Space as energy curated by Elena Forin, photo Sergio Martucci

Work realised using the anemometer, an instrument commonly used in meteorology to measure wind speed.
As is commonly the case in my work, I preferred empirical measurement to technological one and so I cut the anemometer’s data transmission cables and instead applied single strands of wool to each cup, which dipped in linseed oil carry, as they rotate, pushed by the wind, the charcoal powder lying on the paper. The anemometer is placed in the centre of the paper and exposed to the natural wind for 5 minutes. The circular pattern that emerges varies depending on the wind speed, its duration, any changes of course, interruptions or complete absence of propulsive thrust.

Work realised using the anemometer, an instrument commonly used in meteorology to measure wind speed.
As is commonly the case in my work, I preferred empirical measurement to technological one and so I cut the anemometer’s data transmission cables and instead applied single strands of wool to each cup, which dipped in linseed oil carry, as they rotate, pushed by the wind, the charcoal powder lying on the paper. The anemometer is placed in the centre of the paper and exposed to the natural wind for 5 minutes. The circular pattern that emerges varies depending on the wind speed, its duration, any changes of course, interruptions or complete absence of propulsive thrust.
What interests me is the tendency towards a mechanical objectivity, which is never completely achieved since the anemometer thus reworked is imbued with subjectivity. I am interested in the field of tension between the subjective and the objective. The transformation from technological to mechanical/empirical instrument counteracts the achievement of objectivity, which remains, however, an ideal to strive for, a tension towards.

 

 

photo Sergio Martucci 

photo Sergio Martucci

photo Sergio Martucci 

5 Minutes of Wind2022-10-29T19:01:55+00:00

Clouds

 

Nuages Clouds

pinhole photos, variable dimensions, max 12 x 10 cm, 2017

 

Series realised during the art residency at the Camargo Foundation, Cassis, 2017 

Series realised during the art residency at the Camargo Foundation, Cassis, 2017. I tried to capture a fugace phenomenon of clouds appearing in the sky with the technique  of the pinhole camera which exploits the principle of light and its property of reproducing images in a dark room. A simple cardboard box with a hole through which a strip of light can pass and some photosensitive paper inside it becomes the rudimentary means – an artisanal camera obscura – with which to photograph the phenomenon cloud. The process is purely mechanical and its results empirical: the final image depends on many variables which are impossible to control. It is the sum of everything that has happened during the lengthy exposure time: the angle of the sun changes, a cloud goes by, the intensity of the light abates, the wind move the clouds. It is about imprints in the true sense of the word, which bear witness to the existence of things which leave, proof of what has been, mechanically faithful albeit opaque witnesses of reality.

 

 

Clouds2020-12-18T10:13:15+00:00

Plants

Plants

pinhole photos, monotypes, variable dimensions, 2016

This is my first work using the pinhole photography technique which exploits the principle of light and its property of reproducing images in a dark room. A simple cardboard box with a hole through which a strip of light can pass and some photosensitive paper inside it becomes the rudimentary means – an artisanal camera obscura – with which to pho- tograph the plants collected en plain air during my residency at the Camargo Fondation in 2016.
The process is purely mechanical and its results empirical: the final image depends on many variables which are impossible to control. It is the sum of everything that has happened during the lengthy exposure time: the angle of the sun changes, a cloud goes by, the intensity of the light abates, the wind moves the leaves. It is about imprints in the true sense of the word, which bear witness to the existence of things which leave, proof of what has been, mechanically faithful albeit opaque witnesses of reality.

Museo di Palazzo Poggi, Bologna,  2017                                           CAIRN, Centre d’art, Digne-les-Bains, 2018

 

Plants2019-10-13T14:34:28+00:00

Feuilles

Feuilles

pinhole photos, monotypes, 2019 Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venezia

Dire il tempo Roman Opalka Mariateresa Sartori, curator Chiara Bertola

photo Michele Alberto Sereni

Feuilles

exhibition view Monde dis-moi tout,  Cairn Centre d’art, Digne-les-Bains, 2019

photo François-Xavier Emery

The Feuilles cycle: pinhole photos taken during the artist’s residency at the Cairn centre d’art, Digne-les-Bains in France in 2018. Mariateresa Sartori started with a wide selection of leaves which she collected and photographed using the pinhole photography technique which exploits the principle of light and its property of reproducing images in a dark room. A simple cardboard box with a hole through which a strip of light can pass and some photosensitive paper inside it becomes the rudimentary means – an artisanal camera obscura – with which to photograph the leaves collected en plain air.

The process is purely mechanical and its results empirical: the final image depends on many variables which are impossible to control. It is the sum of everything that has happened during the lengthy exposure time: the angle of the sun changes, a cloud goes by, the intensity of the light abates, the wind moves the leaves. It is about imprints in the true sense of the word, which bear witness to the existence of things which leave, proof of what has been, mechanically faithful albeit opaque witnesses of reality.

by Chiara Bertola and Sergio Risaliti, In Italian/English version: Dire il tempo Mariateresa Sartori, Ed. Gli Ori, 2019

Dire il tempo. Mariateresa Sartori

Feuilles2019-11-18T19:37:03+00:00

Chronicles

Chronicles

Pinhole photos, variable dimensions, Dire il tempo  Roman Opalka Mariateresa Sartori, curator Chiara Bertola, site specific work Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venezia 2019

 

Chronicles

Inseguendo l’ordine del tempo, curator Chiara Fumai, Galleria Doppelgaenger, Bari 2019, photo Beppe Gernone 

 

The work is the reelaboration of fragments of paintings from the Museum’s mythological room through the process of pinhole photography. A simple carboard box has a hole through which light passes and this impresses the image on the photosensitive paper placed inside it.The procedure is very close to human physiology: the box is the head, the hole is the eye, the photosensitive paper is the retina. It is a mechanical process on which the possibility of intervention is extremely limited: there are countless variables it is impossible to have control over and which contribute to the final result, which is the sum of everything that has happened during the long exposure times.

In the site-specific work Chronicles, conceived specially for the Fondazione Querini Stampalia Museum, the passage from one image to another filtered by the pinhole process recalls mnemonic processes and how images are impressed (in a literal sense) in our memory.The pinhole fragments of the Querini works are intended as traces of memory which take on new life, assuming different meanings just as our fragmented memory of things is presented as out of focus and imprecise. Due to its intrinsic char- acteristics, pinhole photography is both mechanical imprint and mnemonic trace.

The work is the reelaboration of fragments of paintings from the Museum’s mythological room through the process of pinhole photography. A simple carboard box has a hole through which light passes and this impresses the image on the photosensitive paper placed inside it.The procedure is very close to human physiology: the box is the head, the hole is the eye, the photosensitive paper is the retina. It is a mechanical process on which the possibility of intervention is extremely limited: there are countless variables it is impossible to have control over and which contribute to the final result, which is the sum of everything that has happened during the long exposure times.

In the site-specific work Chronicles, conceived specially for the Fondazione Querini Stampalia Museum, the passage from one image to another filtered by the pinhole process recalls mnemonic processes and how images are impressed (in a literal sense) in our memory.The pinhole fragments of the Querini works are intended as traces of memory which take on new life, assuming different meanings just as our fragmented memory of things is presented as out of focus and imprecise. Due to its intrinsic char- acteristics, pinhole photography is both mechanical imprint and mnemonic trace.

The images which undergo this process acquire the surprising objectivity of radiography devoid of their temporal references of origin.

The elderly man with the beard, the dog, the boy, vegetal elements: they all leave the narration of their time and unexpectedly – and dramatically – become current in the eyes of those observing them. They are facts of contemporary chronicle which each of us can trace in our own personal memory

by Chiara Bertola and Sergio Risaliti in: itlaian and english version Dire il tempo Mariateresa Sartori, ed. Gli Ori, 2019

Dire il tempo. Mariateresa Sartori

Chronicles2019-11-18T19:30:42+00:00

The Time of Sound. Waves

The Time of Sound. Waves

charcoal on paper, 380 x 660 cm, 2019, Galleria Doppelgaenger, Bari 

site specific work: below images of the work installed  at the  Cairn Centre d’art Digne-les-Bains, at the  Fondazione Querini Stampalia Venezia, 2019, and at the  Galleria Doppelgaenger, Bari, 2019. Phots by François-Xavier Emery, Michele Alberto Sereni, Beppe Gernone.

Translation of the sound of the sea waves in real time. I sit on the beach of Lido Venice with a paper and a charcoal. I press the charcoal on the paper following the sound of the waves. I am just a seismograph recording the sound variations of the waves trying to achieve an impossible mechanical objectivity.

Dire il tempo. Mariateresa Sartori, italian/english book, critical texts by Chiara Bertola and Sergio Risaliti

Dire il tempo. Mariateresa Sartori

The Time of Sound. Waves2019-11-18T19:27:33+00:00