If loving you is wrong

If Lovin’ You Is Wrong

Diego Marcon & Cristina Bogdan

Technical support by Claudiu Vlad Ursache & Daniel Witurna


Charles­ Amable Lenoir, Reverie, 1893  / Personal Collection
IF LOVIN’ YOU IS WRONG

Das Projekt entstand aus einem Skype-Gespräch zwischen Diego und Cristina.
Diego erzählt seine Lebensgeschichte, Cristina hört zu. Diego entwirft das Bild eines Revolutionärs der 90er. Von seiner Familie verstoßen, ist er nur noch bei seiner Großmutter willkommen, in einem Schloss an einem See, ausserhalb der Stadt. Cristina folgt, bereit sich auf die Mischung aus Erlebtem und Sehnsucht einzulassen. Schicksalsschläge, geflüsterte Rendezvous, Seufzer und Küsse.Die Enthüllung von Diegos Erzählung als Fiktion ist weniger schmerzhaft, als vielmehr das Erwachen aus einem fabelhaften Traum.

Dieses Erlebnis, entwickelt durch Erzählen und Zuhören, endet in einer minimalen Intervention für das Schaufenster der Schleifmühlgasse 12-14. Der Galerieraum, die Black Box – unzugänglich für die gesamte Spanne der Ausstellung – wird als Hintergrund benutzt, auf der die matten Stimmen zweier Liebender, auf der Glasfläche des Fensters, erscheinen. Die Oberfläche funktioniert wie eine Lamina, wie eine Grenze, der einzige Punkt, wo sich die Autoren und die Betrachter treffen, eine Möglichkeit das Gespräch zu belauschen. Alles passiert auf der Oberfläche, wo die einzigen Zeichen der zwei Stimmen graphisch wiedergegeben werden. If lovin’ you is wrong ist eine kleine Aufführung – ein diskretes Geflüster.

 

IF LOVIN’ YOU IS WRONG

The project was born after a Skype conversation between Diego and Cristina, in which Diego started recounting the story of his life, whilst surreptitiously introducing fantastic elements: he had been a revolutionary in the 90s, had been renegaded by his family and today was only welcome to his grandmother’s castle by the lake, outside of Milan. A story of riots and love, of struggle and deceit, perhaps meant for less cynical times. Cristina tagged along, half-believing but in any case willing to believe, willing to be caught by the scream of the smashes, the whisperings of the encounters, the sighing of the kisses. The progressive unveiling of the fictitious character of Diego’s story wasn’t therefore painful, but resembled instead a waking up from a fabulous dream. 

This experience – developed through storytelling and listening – resolves into a minimal intervention conceived for the windows of Schleifmühlgasse 12-14. The space of the gallery – inaccessible for the entire duration of the intervention – works as a dark background, on which the feeble voices of two lovers arise, showing themselves on the surface of the glass windows. This surface functions as a lamina, as a border that is the only point of contact between the authors and an audience, possible just as a kind of eavesdropping. Everything happens on a surface where the only signs are the two voices graphically rendered. If lovin’ you is wrong is meant to be a small act – a discreet whisper.

  

 

D i e g o M a r c o n Künstler

Born 1985 in Busto Arsizio (Varese, Italy). Currently lives and works in Paris.

Diego has a degree in film editing from the Scuola Civica di Cinema, Televisione e Nuovi Media di Milano (2006), and a BA in Visual Arts from the IUAV University of Venice (2012). In 2009 he took part in the Advanced Course in Visual Arts of the Fondazione Antonio Ratti and in the residency program of the Dena Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris. In 2010 he was a studio recipient at the Fondazione Bevilaqua La Masa in Venice. In 2013 he was artist in residence at Centre international d’Art et du Paysage in Vassivière and participated in the residency program of the Institut Français at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

His works have been screened in film festivals both in Italy and abroad and have been show in international spaces and institutions like the Whitechapel Gallery (London, UK), Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard (Paris, France), De Vleeshal (Middelburg, The Netherlands), NAI – National Architecture Institute (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Torino, Italy), MAGA Musea Arte Gallarate (Gallarate, Italy), Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa (Venezia, Italy), Peep-Hole and Gasconade (Milano, Italy).

C r i s t i n a B o g d a n Kuratorin

Born 1985, Bucharest, where she lives and works. Cristina is currently a PhD researcher in Art Theory at the Université Paris 1 Sorbonne and lectures in Contemporary Art at the London College of Communication and the University for the Creative Arts Farnham. She has a background in Art History and Philosophy. She is the online editor of Revista ARTA , concerned with mapping Romanian contemporary art, and contributes texts to Notes on Metamodernism. She has curated independent art projects in Bucharest (Atelier 35, SpaÈ›iul Platforma / Anexa MNAC), Paris (Galerie l’Age d’Or, Maison des Arts de Malakoff), London (Royal College of Art, Lychee One Gallery) and Vienna (Galerie Schleifmühlgasse 12-14). In 2013, she was resident curator with Bari-based collective Vessel. Cristina has recently been invited by artist Elena Cologni to become part of the ongoing project Rockfluid investigating memory, perception and place. In 2014, she co-founded ODD with Nomi Blum. She is director and main curator of the initiative.
C l a u d i u V l a d U r s a c h e Technical Support

Born in Iasi / Romania. Lives and works at the moment in Berlin.
IT specialist, creator of apps for Mac and Iphone. Freelancer with Artsy, and co-creator of THOR.
D a n i e l W i t u r n a Technical Support

Born in 1991, he is a Computer Science student currently finishing his bachelor’s degree in Multimedia and Visual Computing at the Technical University of Vienna. Besides that, he develops mobile applications for several years already and tinkers around with everything he can get on his hands.