ICA Foundation, Milan: Clash and nostalgia of Chemutai Ng’ok and Riccardo Benassi

ICA Milan: not only artists, but also collectors, industry professionals and enthusiasts contribute to create an environment of research and experimentation

Contemporary Institute of the Arts

The interdisciplinary proposal allows the institution to organize popular and educational seminars as well as exhibitions and performances. The multidisciplinary vision then integrates cinema, literature, and music in addition to art. In a private context such as the foundation, a common place of work is offered according to the culture of giving back, that is, giving back in order to share, ICA explains.

The dialogue between Riccardo Benassi and Chemutai Ng’ok

Until March eighteenth, ICA co-hosts the works of two different personalities-Riccardo Benassi and Chemutai Ng’ok. Both trace an intimate path with respect to their own work and education. The former builds on his multi-year artistic research by exhibiting pieces that have never arrived in Italy and have a collective resonance. Chemutai Ng’ok, on the other hand, ventures into his first european solo exhibition, with works created for the purpose of this exhibition. In this case, the research concerns the theme of confrontation with an emphasis on artworks with a social and political background characteristic of the artist. 

Morestalgia by Riccardo Benassi 

The term Morestalgia has a clear reference to a sense of nostalgia, but not the regular one. The word coined by Benassi refers to a collective, painful feeling that characterizes the post-Internet era. In addition to the sentiment that permeates the entire exhibition, Morestalgia is the title of the central installation in the artist’s project. Regarding this neologism Benassi explains it to be «a specific type of nostalgia whose pain resembles more to that caused by envy than that of true nostalgia».

Something that is perceived as a painful lack, the artist specifies, which the individual senses as a loss with respect to the people they esteem and their shared experiences online. The project’s path is intimate and personal and traces Benassi’s several years of activity within the artistic context. Based on the element of language, fundamental to the artist’s work, Morestalgia offers the audience a liquid narrative. As much as the exhibition encourages personal and introspective reflection, the point of view is collective by raising some issues that have emerged in the pandemic era.

Daily Desiderio Domestico: The liquid narrative of the installation

On the ground floor of the foundation, the protagonist of the project is a led screen penetrable by the human body. This allows the viewer’s enjoyment to be active and sensory, focusing on the movement of individuals in a collective experience. Conceived by the artist in 2019, the work pushes the audience to be aware of their own bodies and those of others in an action space constructed by Benassi. 

Along with this, other pieces create the stages of that one’s artistic production. Daily Desiderio Domestico is a led screen, permanently accessible in the spaces of the foundation, whose purpose is to transmit a different message every day conveyed by the artist. In general, Morestalgia reflects on the limits to human freedom identifiable in a digital environment so bursting that it can encroach on reality. An example of a reflection on AI and the automation of creativity is the video of a robot painting the characteristic landscapes of the artist’s childhood. The entire installation has been curated by Alberto Salvadori.

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Chemutai Ng’ok: An impression that may possibly last forever

Chemutai Ng’ok in her first solo exhibition in Europe investigates and explores the controversial subject of confrontation. An impression that may possibly last forever is a selection of ten paintings and a series of drawings, ; in creating them, the artist drew on what shaped his training and career. On an international level, in fact, Chemutai Ng’ok has always been committed to a political representation of art. The main themes addressed in her works are contemporary events and the examination of the consequences of colonialist activity. From subjective experiences to events such as the 2017 presidential election that shocked Kenya, these are the main sources of her practice. In particular the power dynamics within society and their impact on the community are being examined. 

Chemutai Ng’ok: The body as the focal element of depiction

Central to Chemutai Ng’ok’s painting is the element of the human body, which often occupies a prominent position, whether as an individual or a group.  Inspiration always comes from reality, from events surrounding the artist or from specific characters. In the complexities of today’s world, the works in the exhibition An impression that may possibly last forever appear at times unreal, transcendent. The bodies of the paintings’ protagonists are single units or intertwine into ensembles that evoke the symbolic nature of power, ICA points out. 

Within the exhibition itinerary, curated by Chiara Nuzzi, reassuring and welcoming images are juxtaposed with dark and intimidating depictions. This order is meant to make the viewer reflect on the nuances of today’s time, defined by the artist as unstable and transitory. Since it is also a personal exhibition, autobiographical hints can be noted, representing the vulnerability of loneliness and the strength found in collective movement. 

Chemutai Ng’ok

Chemutai Ng’ok is an artist born in Kenya in 1989. After studying in South Africa and specializing in painting and drawing, she embarked on an international career aimed at investigating contemporary issues and politics. 

Riccardo Benassi

Riccardo Benassi was born in 1982 in Cremona, Italy, where he is still active with his work. Among the cities in which he works is Berlin, and his focus is visual art: text and sound are the main actors in his pieces.

ICA Milan

Via Orobia, 26, 20139 Milano MI. The ICA Foundation in Milan is an institution for all art, a contemporary cultural organism, an artistic-ecological project based on the principles of sustainability and the relationship between people, their backgrounds and the art world.

Chiara Narciso