PR Book - Museo Villa Croce

Cosmic Jive Book
Asinello Press, Genova
The bilingual catalogue (Italian-English) accompanying the exhibition, Cosmic Jive. Tomás Saraceno: The Spider Sessions,
(Museo Villa Croce Genova 13/6- 7/9 2014) will be the first title to be released by Asinello Press (www.asinellopress.com), a
Genoa-based experimental publishing house initiated by Space Caviar, Valter Scelsi and Baukuh. The public will be invited to
augment the book with articles selected from the Reader section of the exhibition, according to their interests.
The catalogue follows the same experimental structure as the exhibition, offering a critical in-depth analysis of Saraceno’s
work and his latest directions of research. It analyses spider webs as analogy for cosmic and nanoscopic structures: it is the
work of various experts who came together to create a unique publication, which mixes traditional and digital printing
techniques. The book will feature an introduction by Ilaria Bonacossa, director of Villa Croce, as well as numerous essays by
renowned theorists and critics, and will be accompanied by a series of sketches and drawings by the artist and photographic
documentation of the installation by Stefano Graziani. The first 250 copies of the Cosmic Jive book will also include a ‘flexi disc’
featuring a recording of the Cyrtophora Citricola quintet on Steatoda dwarf elliptical & ‘Jupiter’ Nephila kenianensis on Hybrid
web-instrument NGC 6514: Trifid. mastered by Odysseus Klissouras.
This experimental publication (108 pages, 21x14 cm.) is designed and edited by Giovanni Pezzato.
The Cosmic Jive book is produced thanks to the support of Hofima, Financial Holding Malacalza, since 2012 one of the main
sponsors of Villa Croce.
Catalogue Authors
Ilaria Bonacossa, co-curator of the exhibition is since 2012 Artistic Director of Villa Croce. Founder of Art@Work, a collective
which produced contemporary art projects. In 2013, she was member of the jury for the Inamori Proze in Kyoto and curated
the Iceland Pavillion at the Venice Biennal Art Exhibition.
Luca Cerizza, co-curator of the exhibition, is the author of Mappa, a monograph on Alighiero e Boetti (Afterall/MIT Press,
Londra/Boston 2008, Electa, Milano 2009) and L’uccello e la piuma. La questione della leggerezza nell’arte italiana (Et Al,
2010). He collaborates with Frieze and Art Agenda and teaches Museum Studies at the NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti) in
Milan.
William Eberhard is professor of biology at the University of Costa Rica. He also works at the Smithsonian Tropical Research
Institute (STRI) in Panama. He holds a Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University and has been studying tropical arthropods for
over 40 years.
Gianni Garrera is a paleographer and music philologist. He is the editor of Kierkegaard’s writings on aesthetics for ‘Classici del
Pensiero’ BUR and for Morcelliana.
Joseph Grima is an architect, writer and editor. He has previously edited Domus magazine and directed Storefront for Art and
Architecture, an independent gallery in New York. In 2012 he was co-curator of the first edition of the Istanbul Design Biennial.
Federico Nicolao is a philosopher. In 2004, he was the Program Director at the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris and
in 2005 at the Picasso Museum in Antibes. He teaches contemporary art theory and practice at the Ecole National Superieure
de Paris Cergy and at the ECALE in Lausanne.
Federico Rahola is a sociologist. He teaches sociology of cultural processes at the University of Genoa. He is the author of
Zone definitivamente temporanee. I luoghi dell’umanità in eccesso (ombre corte 2003) and he wrote, with Massimiliano
Guareschi, Chi decide? Critica della ragione eccezionalista (ombre corte 2011). He has been collaborating with Il manifesto for
over ten years.
David Toop is University of the Arts London Chair of Audio Culture and Improvisation. A composer/musician, author and
curator based in London, he has worked in many fields of sound art, music and writing. He has recorded Yanomami
shamanism in Amazonas, appeared on Top of the Pops and published five books include Ocean of Sound, Haunted Weather,
and Sinister Resonance.
Tomás Saraceno (b. 1973) lives in the planet earth. He collaborates regularly with international researchers, scientists,
musicians, architects and artists in an open-source space of collaborative research. Articulating research between art and
science, through alternative visions that radically rethink ideas of geographical boundaries, social, and living habits, the
Saraceno Studio researches alternative models of sustainable life on the planets, earth, and beyond.
After receiving a degree in architecture in Buenos Aires, Tomás Saraceno studies with Thomas Bayrle and Peter Cook
(founder of Archigram) at Städelschule Frankfurt, where he starts developing the germinal ideas for his artistic practice. In
the last decade, Tomás Saraceno established himself as one of the most relevant artists of his generation as the numerous
exhibitions in international museums and his multiple participations to Biennials and shows testify. Tomás Saraceno presented
his work at the Biennale Internazionale di Arti Visive di Venezia in 2001, 2003 and 2009, at the Biennale de São Paulo in 2006.
Among his numerous international exhibitions, his work has been shown at Barbican Art Center, London (2006), Bonniers
Konsthall Stockholm (2010), Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin (2011), Metropolitan Museum of Art New York (2012), HangarBicocca
Milano (2012) and K21 Düsseldorf (2013). Parallel to his artistic research, Saraceno has collaborated with important scientific
institutions: in 2009, he was artist in residence at International Space Studies Program NASA, in 2012 he developed a project
during his residency at MIT Center for Art, Science Technology (CAST) Boston. In 2009, Saraceno was awarded the Calder
Prize for the Arts.
Tomás Saraceno is represented by Andersen’s Contemporary, Copenhagen; Tanya Bonakdar, New York; Pinksummer, Genova;
Esther Schipper, Berlin. Special Thanks to Pinksummer, Genova.