Spazio Disponibile
<p><em>Spazio Disponibile</em> is a critical reconsideration of the relationship between African histories and European modernism, particularly that of modern Italy. Alluding to vacant advertising sections that appeared in <em>Rivista Coloniale</em>, a widely circulated early 20th century magazine and the official organ of the Italian colonial project, the title is also a reference to the colonial gaze that viewed the lands of Africa as ‘available’ space to occupy and exploit. The catalog reflects Petros’s art and research into the complex layers of colonial and postcolonial histories connecting East Africa and Europe. Employing archival materials collected over a period of seven years, documents that attest to the Italian presence in Ethiopia and Eritrea between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Petros has developed an expansive suite of works that reflect on the lingering effects of colonial memory. Composed of a multimedia installation of serigraphs, photographs, sculptural works, a film and soundscape, the works highlight the ties between the contemporary resurgence of nationalism and a suppressed colonial past.</p>
Artists: Dawit L. Petros
Curator: Irene Campolmi
Editors: Liz Park, Gaëtane Verna
Contributors: Sean Anderson, Irene Campolmi, Teresa Fiore, Fabrizio Gallanti, Elizabeth Harney, Liz Park, Tak Pham, Ghirmai Negash
Copyeditor: Amin Alsaden, Nives Hajdin, Shelley Pomerance, Jack Stanley, Nathalie de Blois
Publishing Coordinator: Ilaria Bombelli, Vittoria Mieli
Designer: Matteo Gualandris
Translators: Dominic Brierre, Nathalie de Blois
Mousse, The Power Plant, University at Buffalo Art Galleries, Mackenzie Art Gallery