#OTIVM

#Otium began in a strongly contemporary social context but with a glance at the past, balanced between the frantic rush of the present and a timeless dimension in which to take refuge and rediscover oneself.

The ancients spoke to us of this, examining the issue of a hic et nunc in which the worries of negotium give way to otium, i.e. that health-giving pause which is not idleness but a moment of reflection and study and a dignified break from the troubles of the world, as suggested by Seneca.
And it was indeed Seneca that Francesco Tassara and Roberto Vendasi were thinking of when they launched their challenge to the world of art, in all its forms.

A heterogeneous team of artists answered their call, artists bound by the common wish to experience a moment of collective pause which they would then relive in an individual dimension, creating their individual contributions. These contributions, before being gathered together in specially-prepared exhibition spaces, were put in the pages of a fanzine which was published at the end of each of the three “idling” experiences so far completed in the La Spezia territory: in the ruins of the Fort of Montalbano; in the ruins of the castle and church of San Martino near Biassa; finally, in the ruins along the River Bettigna in Castelnuovo Magra.

INTRAMOENIA gives #Otium the chance to return to the place where it first took shape, on the occasion of the Cena dei Creativi (Dinner of the Creative Ones), within the walls (hence the title) of a place which is open to the contemporary scene but also dense in history.

The CAMeC in fact stands on the perimeter of the ancient La Spezia walls, and its entrance is just a few steps away from the stone inscription recalling the presence of one of the gates which guaranteed both access to the town and at the same time protection of the inhabitants from outside attacks.

For the #otiosi, the exhibition is an opportunity to come together again in this place, and it also gives them a concrete opportunity to present their work, which ends up significantly assuming the function of medium for a human, artistic, individual and collective journey.

This is a particular kind of retrospective, made up of works which create a dynamic, multiform itinerary through three ground floor rooms, similar to a flow which is enriched as it proceeds with drops of regenerating vital lymph, just like water which eternally renews itself, heedless of everything happening around it.

An intimate journey/experience which, step by step, generates a series of subtle synapses; while not abandoning their initial physical dimension, these lift themselves off the ground and let us brush against the strings of the spirit, losing ourselves for an instant in onirical contemplation, just as when our eyes venture beyond the geometrical confines of an open window and contemplate the great unknown.