The Ermanno Casoli Foundation
Elica

present

Elica Contemporary. New acquisitions

Ettore Favini, Christian Frosi, Nico Vascellari
New acquisitions by the Francesco Casoli collection for Elica

The Elica Showroom
30th October – 14th November 2008

Press meeting and inauguration: 30th October at 6.00 pm
Via Pontaccio 8, Milano

Three works by Ettore Favini, Christian Frosi and Nico Vascellari will be presented on Thursday 30th October at the Elica Showroom in the Brera area of Milan. The works have recently been acquired by Francesco Casoli for Elica Contemporary, the collection of contemporary art which the President of the Marche-based firm is making available to the company, with the intention of bringing the enriching presence of art to the workplace.
This new phase of acquisitions for the collection has been carried out in close cooperation with the Ermanno Casoli Foundation and its artistic director Marcello Smarrelli, in the shared belief that the presence of artworks in the workplace represents a further contribution to the Foundation’s main objective: to forge ever stronger links between the world of industry and production and the world of contemporary art, architecture and design.
The works involved in this exciting venture are Ettore Favini’s sculpture Inverso al contrario (The Opposite of Opposite) (2008) ; NZ 01, a video installation created in 2005 by Christian Frosi; and the photographic sequence Cuckoo, which documents the performance of the piece of that name by Nico Vascellari in 2006.
Ettore Favini, Christian Frosi and Nico Vascellari, three of the most interesting figures on the contemporary art scene, see continuous experimentation and the contamination of a variety of techniques and media as central to their artistic processes, and the decision to acquire their work was dictated by a criteria of continuity. Elica Employees had the opportunity of getting to know the artists’ work during the project called E-Straordinario: From project to object, which involved a series of workshops carried out within the company in June 2008. With the concept of a project as the departure point of production, the employees then had to develop an object under the guidance of their artistic tutors.
The works will be located in the company’s various Italian offices, creating a space where the worlds of everyday work and art can coexist, and may be viewed by the public by appointment. It is hoped that the Elica Contemporary collection, combined with the didactic and pedagogic activity of the workshops and the in-company conferences regularly held by the artists, can form an important opportunity to increase public awareness, and a greater understanding, of contemporary art.
To mark the occasion, Marcello Smarrelli has organised the creation of Air-Paper-Plane by Andrea Nacciarriti, the first in a series of books by artists which the Casoli Foundation intends to produce over the years. Using the interlaced printed lines on the first page of the drawing pad, and following the instructions attached, a small paper plane can be produced. Available in a limited print run of two hundred numbered and signed copies, the work features handcrafted paper produced by Fabriano paper makers Artem and is an explicit homage to the art of origami and the birth of paper in China. The project also helps carry forward the Ermanno Casoli Foundation’s guiding ideal of encouraging fertile new methods of cooperation between artists and industry, with specific reference in this case to Fabriano’s famous tradition of paper production. The Foundation is extremely grateful to Sabrina Bacchetti of Artem.

Notes
Title: Elica Contemporary. New acquisitions
Artists: Ettore Favini, Christian Frosi, Nico Vascellari
Curated by: Marcello Smarrelli
Produced by: Elica
With the support of: Carlson Wagonlit Travel; Intesa Sanpaolo; Manpower; Vodafone; Moroso
Press meeting and inauguration: 30th October 2008 at 6.00 pm
Dates: 30th October – 14th November 2008
Location: The Elica Showroom, Via Pontaccio 8, Milan
Opening times: Monday to Friday, 1.00 pm to 7.00 pm (entrance free)
Info: www.fondazionecasoli.it
Press office
Ghenos: tel. +39 02 34530468 – info@ghenos.net – www.ghenos.net
Elica: Donatella Vici – tel. +39 0732 610315 – ufficiostampa@elica.com
Ermanno Casoli Foundation: Marta Colombo, tel. +39 340 3442805, ufficiostampa@fondazionecasoli.org