My house is your house - Wode jia shi nide jia
botto e bruno meet Liu Xiaodong
19 february - 18 may 2008
Atelier Palazzo delle Esposizioni

Abbiamo visto il tempo passare al nostro fianco e l'unico mezzo per farlo nostro è stato dipingerlo (Liu Xiaodong)

For the occasion of the exhibition China XXI century, the Atelier hosts My house is your house, Wode jia shi nide jia, a meeting in the Artist's house between botto and bruno and Liu Xiaodong.
The house transforms itself to welcome the Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong who, with his suitcase of personal objects, books, cds, clothes and photos, occupies the space of the italian artists as a visiting guest.
The dialogue among the artists, comes from the arriving of Liu Xiaodong in Roma. It is a meeting made up of memories, opinions, impressions about the making of art and about their personal artistic work, of their cultures and the cities in which they live. More than a comparison of their works, it is a reflection on the identity of the individual in an ever-changing, fragile and, at intervals, alienating urban space; on the perception of space and of oneself in two societies which are so different but are characterized by many traits in common.
And then the meeting, more direct and immediate in the "house" which is both a work of art and an educational journey, a sort of diary which takes one into the artist's world, allowing us to understand his reasons and discover his language.
In spite of the apparent formal contrast, it is possible to trace in these artists common aims and ideals. The Chinese artist is a figurative painter while botto and bruno use photography and digital technology; Liu paints realistic portraits which become focal points in his works whilst botto and bruno's models often have their faces covered.
Paradoxically however, the result which they aim for, despite the employment of different means, is the very denouncement of a system that, increasingly puts people aside in the name of economic interests and power. It is not a type of "political" art but one surely where the artists use their expressive means to denounce the facts.

The artist’s house
The botto and bruno’s artist’s house was born in 2005 for Didart, an European project that aims to bring contemporary art and artists to the public. Six world- famous artists were invited to construct a house with images from their works , videos, books, music, clothes. The house as a sort of “visual diary” of the artists with memories, the tools of the trade and a selection of cultural references which have influenced their poetics. Botto and bruno’s house which was realized in response to an invitation by the Laboratorio d’arte of Palazzo delle Esposizioni - , is a perspective on the urban and social panorama which is always a protagonist in the vision of the artists from Turin, a contemporary tapestry, a city inhabited by faceless adolescents.

botto e bruno
biography
Gianfranco Botto e Roberta Bruno, originals from Mirafiori, Torino, Gianfranco Botto and Roberta Bruno, from Turin, narrate the urban suburbs often considered “ non-places” utilizing photography, video and installations. Their work explores the urban situation, often characterized by deep squalor, the social change and the search for an identity carried out by the young people who live in the suburbs. Their first art works are of the beginning of nineties, little books self-made where black and white abandoned places images run nearby newspapers texts. Later they made “environmental” projects with giant posters of disused factories and dirt roads directly glued on the walls. An itinerary in the anonymous geography of places where they live.