Alvisi Kirimoto undertakes the exhibition design of “BURTYNSKY: Extraction/Abstraction”, the largest solo show ever dedicated to the Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky. Following its showcase at the Saatchi Gallery in London, the exhibition arrives at the M9 – Museo del ’900 in Venice Mestre under the curatorship of Marc Mayer.
Open to the public from June 21, 2024, to January 12, 2025, it features over 100 works that vividly explore the impact of human activity on the environment and the devastating effects of climate change. Edward Burtynsky documents the profound impact of human activity on natural landscapes.
His photographs capture both the beauty and the devastation of territories altered by industry, offering a powerful reflection on sustainability and the future of our planet. “We come from nature. It’s important to have a certain reverence for what nature is because we are connected to it. If we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves,” says Edward Burtynsky.
Alvisi Kirimoto aligns the photographer’s work with Marc Mayer’s curatorial vision, structuring the exhibition across various museum spaces, primarily in the third-floor gallery dedicated to temporary exhibitions. At the heart of the exhibition the “Scheggia”, a freestanding structure placed in the center of the main hall, originally created by the studio for a previous exhibition.
Composed of three irregularly shaped folded sheets, the Scheggia stands out as a defining element that shapes the exhibition’s space and identity, facilitating optimal viewing of the displayed works. The exhibition features powerful framed photographs, large-scale murals, and an augmented reality experience, delivering an intense visual narrative of the impact of human actions on the planet.
The layout is developed along two lines: the existing museum walls and the diverse angles of the Scheggia. as well as new display surfaces that orthogonally structure the space. These include the Mural Wall and Totem elements – double-sided parallel structures that hold the artworks and rigorously organize the space.
On the first floor, the new M9 Orizzonti room hosts the immersive installation “In the Wake of Progress”. The second floor serves as an introductory environment offering an overview of Burtynsky’s career, highlighted by a large banner showcasing the museum’s triple height with the work “Shipyard #11, Qili Port, Zhejiang Province, China, 2005.”
Also on the second floor is the “Xylella” series, chronicling the devastation of olive trees in Puglia caused by the Xylella bacterium. The third floor, a space of over 1200 square meters, is entirely dedicated to the exhibition.
It is divided by the Scheggia into three main sections: Abstraction, which explores the artist’s techniques and the resemblance of his photographs to abstract art; Extraction, Manufacturing and Infrastructure, Agriculture, and Waste, the five central themes investigated by Burtynsky; and finally, Archive of Process, which examines the artist’s working methods.
Through this exhibition design, Alvisi Kirimoto provides an immersive and reflective experience, in perfect sync with Edward Burtynsky’s artistic message, and powerfully illuminating the complex dynamics of our time. Source by Alvisi Kirimoto.
