[..] In the context of Guilmi, crowned by the Apennines, ME(A)LS focuses on the surrounding ecosystem and in
particular on the plant species. Among the numerous varieties present in the Abruzzo area, the choice falls on all those
spontaneous plants that grow inside the village: from the vitriol that emerges from the walls, to the saeppola that peeps
out from the old steps, up to the sorrel that grows from the stone. Interazioni Cromoempatiche proposes, therefore, to
enhance some of the plants typically known as weeds, often ignored, trampled and eliminated due to their infesting
nature. The more than twenty varieties, found in the historic center of Guilmi, have been immersed in an alcoholic
solution with the aim of extracting the chlorophyll, the lifeblood of the plants.
Therefore, chromoempathic interactions aims to collect, catalog and show native plant species. The installation Invisibili
come i grilli di notte, the key work of the exhibition, is located in the three rooms on the first floor of the GuilmiArtProject
apartment in via Italia 30, and recalls a circulatory system.
The blood vessel that composes it, inside which the plant sap flows, is proposed as a beating heart, exhibited in the
historic center itself. The title of the installation refers to an analogy between the crickets and the inhabitants of Guilmi:
a village partly populated and partly ghost, often invisible compared to the great centers of art, where the inhabitants,
like small insects in the night, make themselves heard by carrying on their song, making the invisible visible.
In the central room, the public is invited to enter the immersive atmosphere restored by Wood's light, through which the
original green becomes red, revealing the reactivity of the compound and its ability to change.
In the La Pitech gallery, on the other hand, the Archivio Spontaneo is exhibited, formed by the chromatographies
obtained thanks to the reaction of chlorophyll with an eluent. The papers displayed on the wall, which refer to the
centuries-old tradition of watercolor and show the different shades of green, will subsequently be placed inside the
Herbarium, a catalog of native plants.
Martina Pappalardo
Photo credits: Martina Pappalardo
Site-specific installation set up at Galleria La Pitech,
Guilmi (CH),
during the residency "Interazioni Cromoempatiche"
curated by Martina Pappalardo