Swans Take Off Like The Concorde

About a decade ago, when encountering the works of Alfredo Aceto, we were already struck by the ability to manipulate objects and concepts. Back then, we encountered installations, devices, and scenographies, far removed from the minimalist appearance of his first exhibition at Parliament, Lingua Enfumante (2021). Even then, Aceto used photography not merely as a tool for documentation but as a medium to construct images, forms, and specific bodies of work. For his second solo exhibition at Parliament, Aceto has chosen to present, for the first time, only photographs. The decision marks a lateral step and a revelation of a facet of his oeuvre that has largely remained under the radar. The images of Aceto have been subjected to liminal manipulation through Photoshop. These are, in essence, deliberately archaic images that bring editing software back into the realm of manual labor and bricolage, opposing the pursuit of perfection that such tools typically embody. The photographs are rife with imprecisions, “bugs in the matrix,” and glitches, celebrating a kind of technological failure reminiscent of an American current—a post-Pictures Generation?—to which we can link artists Cheyney Thompson, Leslie Hewitt, and Wade Guyton. The images of Aceto also evoke another strain of American art: that of Bernadette Corporation and Reena Spaulings, which playfully deconstruct notions of authorship while subverting the codes of luxury and fashion. Notably, Aceto unearthed a selection of archival images from an unknown watch designer in Geneva, the global capital of such objects. This collection of around a hundred documents forms the foundation of the exhibition. They are scanned and modified by the artist and like their rough alterations, they embody a narrative of failure. The archives are paradoxical on multiple levels. They were discovered in Les Cygnes shopping mall in Geneva, where the artist’s studio is located—a Swiss “popular” district where passersby are unlikely to purchase luxury watches. The objects represent a form of discounted luxury, a pseudo-chic discernible to the trained eye, much like the exhibition title itself, which juxtaposes the faded charm of Les Cygnes mall with the absolute opulence of 1970s French modernity, epitomized by the Concorde supersonic aircraft. Through this new series of subtly reimagined photographs, Aceto gracefully reminds us of the power of images, the failed aspirations of modernity, and the “history beside history.”