For its October 2013 Curator’s Choice, Modern Painters spoke with Milovan Farronato, director of the Fiorucci Art Trust in London.
If space and money were no object, what work of art would you own?
Katharina Fritsch’s Hahn/Cock, 2013. I find the image of a threatening blue rooster erected on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square a potent one.
What can we expect from the Fiorucci Art Trust in the near future?
Cabinet Cocteau, an installation by Marc Camille Chaimowicz: a fictitious domestic setting that this month will have to contend with a real domestic setting at 10 Sloane Avenue, the seat of the Trust. From the end of October through next March, there’ll also be a series of lectures and performances by Italian artists of various generations: from Patrizio Di Massimo to Sissi, from Enrico David to Chiara Fumai. Other imminent exhibition projects will be devoted to the research of Nick Mauss and Christodoulos Panayiotou.
What excites you about London’s art scene?
The Chisenhale Gallery and Raven Row exhibition programs, as well as the activities of Cubitt. Tate Modern’s film screenings. Maggs Brothers and the Antiquarian Bookshop on Berkeley Square. Donlon Books on Broadway Market, and Claire de Rouen Books on Charing Cross Road, both of which specialize in art, fashion, and photography.
What other international cities ignite your love of contemporary art?
I admit to having a certain partiality for islands and isolation. I live in London, which is on an island. I teach in Venice. And on Stromboli (an active volcano in the heart of the Mediterranean), I’m trying to destructure a curatorial project.
Are there any Italian artists who should be on the international radar?
Liliana Moro and Anna Franceschini, certainly.
What’s the last great book you read?
I’d like to linger over the dérive of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, but at the moment it would aggravate my insomnia. The last interesting thing I read was not a book but a painting: a trompe l’oeil by Lucy McKenzie, Quodlibet XXVI(Self Portrait), an image of an A4 sheet of paper with the printout of an e-mail fixed onto a corkboard. The content of the e-mail is a declaration. A statement as self-portrait. I’m interested in the mise en abyme of the act of reading and reading as yet another act of examination.
What’s the last exhibition that left a serious impression on you?
I am particularly fascinated by the concept of reenactment, so it’s “When Attitudes Become Form: Bern 1969/Venice 2013,” curated by means of a triangular pass between Germano Celant, Thomas Demand, and Rem Koolhaas.
What might you be doing if you were not a curator?
Undoubtedly I’d be a contortionist. I like the answer Denis Lavant gives Michel Piccoli in the film Holy Motors when asked why he goes on doing what he does (i.e., being the “performer of fictions”). His response: “For the same reason that made me start: for the beauty of the gesture.” With this same answer, I grant myself not only an imaginary flexibility of the body but also a contortion of the mind, to the extent to which I can let my imagination run away with an impossible idea.
Any new musical discoveries?
My most recent and delightful musical discovery is Brooke Candy, whose singles “Das Me” and “Everybody Does” I love: the ultimate level of feminism. But long live Leila K, too, who is probably the most arrogant, authentic, and aggressive female rap star of our century. “The legend slaps your face!”
If you could chat with any art world figure, living or dead, whom would you choose?
Legends should remain legends, but a party (rather than a conversation) with Jack Smith and the cast of Flaming Creatures would be fun.
Are there too many curators in the world these days?
There ought to be more contortionists.
