«Rediscover a visionary artist, offering a glimpse into his creative universe, made up of experimentation between poetry, images, sounds and new technologies that vindicate the avant-garde dream of fusing all artistic languages into a total work of art, capable of transforming perception of reality itself”. This is the meaning of ‘Poetronica: Gianni Toti – Elisa Zurlo’, the exhibition hosted by Caos di Terni which will be inaugurated on Saturday 22 June at 6pm in the Project room-Sala Ronchini.
The exhibition The exhibition is curated by Carlo Terrosi, president of the ‘Le Macchine Celibi’ cooperative and in collaboration with the Totitana library of the ‘Gottifredo’ association. The opening on Saturday 22nd will be introduced by a talk presenting the exhibition, led by the curator and president of the cooperative, Silvia Moretto of the Totiana library and Elisa Zurlo, video artist and collaborator of Gianni Toti.
The character The exhibition celebrates Gianni Toti one hundred years after his birth. A man who, after participating in the Resistance, worked as an editor for important newspapers such as ‘The Unity‘, ‘The Voice of Sicily‘ And ‘Country Evening‘. However, his artistic vocation soon pushed him towards new expressive horizons, arriving at a process of fusion between poetry, cinema and electronic arts: what Toti himself defined as the “language of poettronics”. A tireless experimenter, Toti created thirteen VideoPoemWorks: true total works of art, destined to “invade daily life and transform it”.
Exhibition details The Ronchini del Caos Project Room will host two of these VideoPoemWorks: ‘Squezangezaum’ (1988), created with cutting-edge Rai technologies, and ‘Gramsciategui ou les poesimestes’ (1999), a «cruel and desperate cry» against wars and the extermination of peoples. Alongside these, two video works by Elisa Zurlo, student and collaborator of Gianni Toti, are also on display: ‘Homo Caelestis’ (2023) and ‘Uncommon Places’ (2011) which combine a plurality of artistic languages and new technologies. The exhibition will remain on display until Sunday 29 September, from Thursday to Saturday from 11am to 1pm and from 5pm to 8pm, non-stop on Sunday from 10am to 8pm. Only on the opening day will it be possible to view Elisa Zurlo’s works in immersive mode, through the use of a virtual helmet. Entrance is free.
