On Gesture – Tenet opera rotas stems from a desire to explore the link between printmaking and calligraphy, investigating the way human gesture expands around the code and the need to leave meaningful marks.
The project of Ana Gabriela Purecel – RUFA student – starts from a reflection on the ancestral need to create visual systems to communicate and mechanisms capable of multiplying them. Understanding the meaning of the sign has always pushed us to shape and share writing, a path as complex and fascinating as Daedalus’ labyrinth.
The work culminates in a lithograph made entirely by hand, a large format of 2×2 meters that becomes a space of inquiry into the relationship between Copy and Word. The heart of stone-an ancient medium inextricably linked to the history of language-reveals how the material has, over the centuries, been a companion and witness to our evolution.
From the walls of Lascaux and Altamira, where bare rock became narrative, to Mesopotamian clay tablets etched from the reed; from the letters liberated by the Greeks to the softened stroke of the Roman chisel; to the German playwright who, in the 18th century, discovered how to extract ink from limestone, paving the way for modern lithography.
On Gesture – Tenet opera rotas thus narrates a journey into the memory of writing, showing how our history was literally written by breaking the earth, turning every gesture into testimony.
The project, along with all the finalist works from the “Normal is Extraordinary” international contest , will be on display at the MAXXI Corner from Dec. 5 to 8 (free admission).
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