Sabato 28 settembre 2024, Associazione Arte Continua inaugurated the new exhibition of Tobias Rehberger entitled 'In the Future On/Off' in the spaces of UMoCA - Under Museum of Contemporary Art.
The installation consists of 52 coloured crystal lamps suspended in the three arches of the UMOCA (Under Museum of Contemporary Art) and is part of the project "Cities of the Future, organised by Associazione Arte Continua.
The work recalls, twenty-five years later, installation Montevideo reveloped by the artist in 1999 in occasione della IV edizione del progetto Art to Art. In fact, Rehberger proposes a series of lamps with three different shapes, tutte realizzate a mano dalla cristalleria specializzate Collevilca di Colle di Val d’Elsa.
Using this material, Rehberger pays homage to local tradition while commenting on temporality and transience, linking past and present through a craftsmanship that invites visitors to confront what they have in front of them, offering the opportunity to interact with these handmade objects that turn on and off.
Adding a poetic dimension to this temporal and participatory experience, control of the installation is entrusted to the artist's three sonswho, via an app, decide when the lights will be on or off. Consequently, this provocative gesture symbolises the passing of a legacy from one generation to the next.
On a broader level, the combination of the material (the installation) and the symbolic (the artist's act of passing control to his children) inspires a reflection that invites the viewer to think on two complementary dimensions: the personal and the collective.
