Self Reflective

Ludovica Carbotta and Diego Delas

The last chapter of Absolute Beginners won’t be an exhibition at CentroCentro; the circumstances have changed and we have had to adapt to them.

Seld Reflective is a video and audio piece produced by Ludovica Carbotta and Diego Delas who use fiction to navigate an exhibition that does not exist in space. A two-part story in which sound, voice and image become the elements of a peculiar conversation between the two artists. The piece invites spectators to let themselves be carried away by the experience of imagining something that could have been, in order to somehow make it happen in another way. Mirrors, returns, holes and empty rooms through which members of a family wander are the elements that will give shape to this story that will see the light of day this coming month of September through CentroCentro's website, along with a small downloadable publication.

This intervention corresponds to the final part (the future) of a narrative in the form of a curatorial cycle, which has been divided into three times/exhibitions (past, present and future). A cycle that has endeavoured to investigate the possibilities of fiction and speculation in order to construct alternative and collective modes of enunciation in which spectators can approach new ways of making the world.

Ludovica Carbotta (Turin, 1982) lives and works in Barcelona. Carbotta gained an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2015. Her practice focuses on the physical exploration of the urban space and on how individuals establish connections with the environment they inhabit. Her oeuvre combines installations, texts and performance art pieces.  Her work was presented at the 2019 Venice Biennale’s 58th International Art Exhibition – May You Live in Interesting Times, which was curated by Ralph Rugoff. Her recent solo exhibitions are as follows: Die Telamonen, Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur, Switzerland (2019–2020); Objects of Defence, Marta Cervera Gallery, Madrid (2019–2020); Monowe, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2019); smART, Rome (2019); Artissima Present Future, Turin (2018); Marselleria, New York (2018); Marta Cervera Gallery, Madrid (2017); ON Public - Monowe, Bologna (2016); A motorway is a very strong wind, Care Of, Milan (2014); Vitrine 270 - Without Walls, Galleria Arte Moderna, Turin (2013); Greater Torino, Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Turin (2011).

Ludovica is the co-founder of Progetto Diogene, an international public space residency programme, and The Institute of Things to Come, a centre that focuses on investigating futurological scenarios. Carbotta’s recognitions include the Ariane de Rothschild Prize, Milan (2011), the Gallarate Prize (2016), Gasworks International Fellowship, London (2016), and a Premio ITALIA special mention, MAXXI Museum, Rome (2016). In 2017 she was an associate researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, and in 2018 she was awarded the New York Prize by the ISCP/Columbia University.

Diego Delas (Aranda de Duero, 1983) lives and works in Madrid. An artist, architect and researcher, he holds a PhD in Contemporary Art from the Ruskin School of Art at Oxford University, thanks to a grant from the Radcliffe Humanities Observatory / AHRC. He also obtained a master’s degree in painting from the Royal College of Art in London. He studied Architecture and Fine Arts in Madrid.

Some of his most notable individual exhibitions include: Cielo y Sol Dorado de la Siesta (Sky and the Golden Siesta Sun), F2 Gallery, Madrid (2018); No Siempre que Estuvimos / Estuvimos (We Weren’t Always There / When We Were There), in Mutaciones / Arte Contemporáneo en Museos (Mutations / Contemporary Art in Museums), C.I. Nuevo Baztán, Madrid (2017); There’s Room for Insomnia, Fluent, Santander (2016); A Summer Game Inside a Light Stage, curated by João Laia, Trastero 109, Palma de Mallorca (2015); En la Distracción (In the Distraction), F2 Gallery, Madrid (2015).

Some of his most notable collective exhibitions include: Haus Wien. Vienna, Austria (2020), Cinco itinerarios con un punto de vista (Five Itineraries with one Point of View), MUSAC - The Museum of Contemporary Art of Castilla and León, León (2019); La cuestión es ir tirando (On the Importance of Thriving), curated by Ángel Calvo Ulloa, CCEMx - The Cultural Center of Spain in Mexico, Mexico D.F. (2019); Una Dimensión Interior (An Inner Dimension), curated by Javier Hontoria, Patio Herreriano Museum, Valladolid (2019); Being and Optimization, The Dolphin/St. John College, Oxford (2019); Der Duft der Bilder. Werke der Colección Olorvisual, Barcelona, Kunst- und Kulturstiftung Opelvillen Rüsselsheim, Rüsselsheim am Main (2018); Querer parecer noche (To Want to Seem Night), curated by Beatriz Alonso and Carlos Fernández-Pello, Dos de Mayo Art Centre, Mostoles (2018); V22 Young London 2018, curated by Rowan Geddis, V22 Silvertown Studios, London (2018); Fragments Of Stale Time, Lychee One, London (2017).