Unstable Intensities

The show "Unstable Intensities" (18.6.2022–12.9.2022) at MLZ Art Dep, Trieste is curated by Francesca Lazzarini and presents Anaïs Horn’s work complex “Longing Ghosts in Deep Blue Paranoia” (2022) and the film "The Wind" (2022) by Katharina Copony. The artists’ researches started from two of the most meaningful places in Trieste: Copony focused on Parco San Giovanni - the former psychiatric asylum which, under the direction of Franco Basaglia, became in the ‘70s the epicentre of a radical transformation in the Italian mental healthcare system. Horn’s work concentrated instead on the complex of Miramare Castle, commissioned and inhabited by Maximilian of Habsburg and Charlotte of Belgium. There, the latter spent the most difficult years of her life, after the death of her consort happened in a revolutionary turmoil in Mexico, country of which he was recently proclaimed Emperor. If Copony immersed herself in the ecology of care emerged from Basaglia’s ideas, producing the video performance "The Wind", in collaboration with some of the most active protagonists of this experience -, Horn created an installation which - by evoking the unstable mental state of the princess and turning the features of the castle from tools of ostentation of the couple’s rank and ambitions into uncanny presences - delves into the dominant narrative of Miramare, questioning it from within. Horn explores the secret memories of the Castle’s stage-like rooms, the uncanny of the past appearing in reflections, dead angles, and blurs. The photographs are printed on mirrors, set in antique frames by historic Triestinian frame builder Parmiani. She filmed secret interventions in the Miramare park: floating, ghost-like objects with surveillance lens, referring to Charlotte's anxieties. The installation’s soundscape by Eilert Asmervik features a text written/voiced by Estelle Hoy and a scent created by Pauline Rochas. The works were realized or initiated during the artist's 2021 residency with AiR Trieste. The residency was supported by the Province of Styria Cultural Department. On occasion of the exhibition the artist's book Anaïs Horn: “Longing Ghosts in Deep Blue Paranoia” was published by Drama Books, Paris, designed and co-edited by Boah Kim. Order via DM @drama_books