Istituto Svizzero: Bureau for Art Nerds

This one-month programme of exhibitions and one-evening events took the Milan branch of the Istituto Svizzero by storm: the inaugural performance was Local Concert by Swiss artist Hannah Weinberger.

The Milan branch of the Istituto Svizzero di Roma has developed the Bureau for Art Nerds, a one month programme curated by Valentina Sansone which embraced the city through last June. A series of two exhibitions and five events occupied the institution's headquarters, as well as a series of public and independent spaces. The programme sought to present diverse collective and independent art practices active in Switzerland and Milan, bringing to light their diffuse energy as nodes in possible networks, which are non-institutional, necessary and auspicious. Domus spoke to the program's curator Valentina Sansone and artist Hannah Weinberger, who inaugurated the program with the performance Local Concert.

Roberto Zancan: Valentina, can you describe the program for this season of the Milan branch of the Istituto Svizzero di Roma? Can you explain how you chose the Concerto Locale (Local Concert) performance and how it fits into the concept of the work presented in the exhibition?
Valentina Sansone: Bureau for Art Nerds was a series of appointments consisting of 2 exhibitions and 5 one-evening events taking place at the Milan branch of the Istituto Svizzero di Roma, and in public and self-run spaces around the city through 26 June. The Bureau involves newly founded self-run projects from Switzerland and from Milan and experiments a certain typology of events that by nature refuse any definition as such but which have had to be defined as "non-happenings" in order to initiate a series of critical reflections. By "non-happening" I don't simply refer to improvised artistic actions that take place in unconventional venues, but at the same time it is about changing entities, open and nomad, ephemeral initiatives characterized by a performative nature that activate an analysis of all those tools that follow a collective practice.
Hannah Weinberger, <em>Local Concert</em>, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
Hannah Weinberger, Local Concert, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
All the projects invited to the Bureau — Fluck|Paulus, Anonima Nuotatori, Hannah Weinberger, Dafne Boggeri's Full Moon Saloon, Hotel Palenque, Curtat Tunnel, Carrozzeria Margot — have in common an attitude for the organization of ephemeral events and are tuned to an open system, according to each group's specific interests.
Part of the project takes place in different venues around the city of Milan (the historical Casa Morigi, self-run since 1976, non-profit spaces O' and Gasconade and the state school Liceo Artistico Caravaggio, near Via Padova); another part of the Bureau was on show at the Milan branch of the Istituto Svizzero di Roma, which on this occasion is promoting a network of a series of connections and events that support non-institutional subjects and non-institutional practices.
Hannah Weinberger, <em>Local Concert</em>, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
Hannah Weinberger, Local Concert, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
For the first exhibition at the Milan branch of the Istituto Svizzero di Roma, Swiss artist Hannah Weinberger presented Concerto locale (Local concert), her first project in Italy, consisting of a performance and a 40-channel sound installation. 24-year-old Weinberger comes from a family of musicians, she is the only artist invited to present a solo show within the Bureau and has a very specific background. Weinberger's work is always based on participation and collaboration and is the result of a collective participation that primarily involves the local art community. She is one of the founding members of the Basel-based project space Elaine Mgk (founded in 2012), and less recently has been active in the context of various collectives — amongst these New Jerseyy, Basel, founded in 2008 by a group of artists, curators and graphic designers. Her first solo show took place this year at the Kunsthalle Basel. For her performance in Milan she invited 40 non-professionals contacted via email or by telephone, starting from the Bureau network, thus activating a social mechanism and a process of exchange through a word-of-mouth and an informal invitation. The performers were asked to play music on their personal computer using Garage Band — a software for creating music — simultaneously for one hour. The result of the performance is a sound installation broadcasted in loop.
For Weinberger performance in Milan she invited 40 non-professionals contacted via email or by telephone, starting from the Bureau network, thus activating a social mechanism and a process of exchange through a word-of-mouth and an informal invitation
Hannah Weinberger, <em>Local Concert</em>, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
Hannah Weinberger, Local Concert, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
Hannah, can you explain what this performance consisted of and in particular how your work relates to the Milan branch of the Istituto Svizzero di Roma exhibition space specifically?
Hannah Weinberger: In my show there were around 40 people actively involved in the production of the final work that was then turned into an exhibition. It was the first time that a performative act generated and activated my work, which will remain on view for several weeks, in the form of the deserted performance set-up, devoid of everything save for the computer speakers, each playing its track on a loop.
Participation is an important aspect of the creation of my work. 40 individuals created 40 tracks, each one an hour long, recorded in 40 channels on one unit and played as a one-hour loop. Each participant worked on his/her own track, trying not to be distracted by the others, to find a certain rhythm, so as to create his/her own composition. Each individual was a composer for one hour; trained musicians next to artists and people coming from all kinds of backgrounds. They engaged, for that very moment, in the production of sound limited by the possibilities of the software I asked them to use, or whatever they brought to connect with a mini jack plug. From a distance, the 40 people seated at tables, all with open laptops, looked uniform, each busy making his/her own music.
Hannah Weinberger, <em>Local Concert</em>, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
Hannah Weinberger, Local Concert, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
Working together as artist and curator you seem to have shared a lot of enthusiasm and have had lots of fun realizing the program and the works. What was the dialogue like between you and what specific results did this interaction produce?
VS: The performance Concerto locale (Local concert) has been an opportunity to start a critical process that questions the idea of a group and that surprised us for the dynamics that it triggered. The starting point was that of presenting, recounting Hannah's work to the potential performers in order to involve them in the project, beginning from a personal level, then talking to students and, little by little, widening the communication channels through social networks. Milan-based Anonima Nuotatori and Gasconade, for instance, participated in the performance and have been involved on a personal level and through a personal relationship thanks to the Bureau net, whilst the others have established a totally casual relationship with the artist: a student found a flyer for the performers open call on the ground, researched the project and eventually took part in it!
Hannah Weinberger, <em>Local Concert</em>, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
Hannah Weinberger, Local Concert, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
Concerto locale (Local Concert) has been the occasion to question the role of collectives and those non self-referential practices that lead to a confrontation and to a relationship of exchanges, in order to mark limits and resistances. Artists and curators should develop the potentials of these collaborative and collective practices. Milan-based self-run initiatives taking part in the Bureau for Art Nerds are a good starting point to promote always desirable practices on a local level.

HW: Yes, it was fun and the Istituto Svizzero crew put a lot of personal effort into this project.. and they participated as well in the performance. Also thanks to them I now have a bunch of new friends in Milan!
Hannah Weinberger, <em>Local Concert</em>, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
Hannah Weinberger, Local Concert, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
Hannah Weinberger, <em>Local Concert</em>, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan
Hannah Weinberger, Local Concert, performance view at Istituto Svizzero, Milan

Most recent

Latest on Domus

Read more
China Germany India Mexico, Central America and Caribbean Sri Lanka Korea icon-camera close icon-comments icon-down-sm icon-download icon-facebook icon-heart icon-heart icon-next-sm icon-next icon-pinterest icon-play icon-plus icon-prev-sm icon-prev Search icon-twitter icon-views icon-instagram