desert of reality “Don’t worry, it will all be over soon” – Gallerie Gregore Staiger, Milan | ATP Diary Reality Desert | “Don’t worry, it will all be over soon”

text of Camilla Desiati ,

Is “don’t worry, it will all be over soon” a manifesto, a reassurance that is repeated when going through dark times or is it one big phrase that repeats itself in an eternal loop? Fragments of architecture, burnt ruins. Perhaps we are close to destruction, on the edge of the abyss that the title, like a slogan, seeks to proclaim. is set up on two floors of Gregor Staiger Gallery Located in Milan, it presents works in a harmonic but non-linear succession. Exhibition is a question and it has many possible answers.
The exhibition itinerary develops starting with Jan Voricek’s four sculptures “Say No After Saying Yes”, “Chance Machine”, “Spinal Semiotics” (all from 2020) and “Untitled” (2022). Post-composition and reconstruction related to architectural language. Droids made from waste materials from packaging and the remains of destroyed spacecraft. Almost as if the outer shell of the objects had become the objects themselves.
four pieces that refer to me body without limbs By Artaud: A fragmented body that disintegrates and reassembles to give rise to a new form.
Alongside Voricek’s horizontal interventions, Gabriele Garavaglia’s “Eager” (2023) unfolds vertically. A full-scale steel elevator showing a blood-red crack. Appears as an abstract painting on the wall. A chance to escape or a black hole that pulls us in and attracts us. Ascent or descent?
Garavaglia combines and combines a variety of means and meanings to blur the line between fiction and reality. Highly deceptive and highly hyper-realistic, as in “Overtime” (2023), a cleaver placed in a rolled-up tie placed on a white table next to two numbers of flash art.
Two paintings by Guillaume Denervaad lead us to the upper floor of the gallery: they depict imaginary ecosystems, forests with organic forms in contrast to geometry and architectural structures. The first allusion to “He’s working at Vapors Corp” (2022) may refer to a post-apocalyptic landscape dominated by benevolent microorganisms that swim lightly. But reading more carefully, especially looking at the second painting “Shadows” on the stairs
“The Escapers” (2022) and combining it with the first, reveal a dystopian and gloomy vision of a mutant flora that invades places instead of inhabiting them. The parasitic life forms of Denrawad that proliferate in the ruins of Earth’s future carefully analyze the planet’s current unstable state. However, the notes of Alice DJ’s slowed down version of “Better Off Alone” shake us off uneasily and make us climb the stairs to watch “I’m So Full Of Longing And Desire It Gush Out From My Knees As They Crumple On The Ground” invite for Why I Crawl Toward You” (2020) by Tita Cicognani.

A CGI girl crawls and roams across celestial spheres, beaches and deserts to find the man who once gave her a bouquet of flowers.
Sometimes, computer-generated GIFs emerge from trash culture (like Legally Blonde, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West), glowing hearts and butterflies flying across the screen. The humorous and ridiculous structure of the clip that interferes with the work distracts attention from the plot of the video for a moment. Skinned Knees and Enthusiasm invite us to contemplate the relationship between power and desire, an indefensible and pernicious desire.
Close-ups of the avatar’s crying face include wounds and frenzied dancing. The act of crawling is also understood to be worship by kneeling down. “better off alone” ? Happiness and decadence, the post-apocalyptic desert where we never want to find ourselves alone.
To cancel out that sad feeling of alienation, a distant scene opens before our eyes and the image of a girl dancing: “Park de la Leyenda” (2020) and “Guacherna” (2018) by Jim C. Nedd . The first image is taken during the Vallenato Legend Festival in Valledupar, one of the most important music events in Colombia. The second was taken during the Guacherna Carnival parade. Collective memories and shared experiences merge into a dark landscape, as if it were a warning: the only hope we have left lies in a sense of community, the rituals of social gathering, and interpersonal alliances.

“Don’t worry, it will all be over soon” is a warning, a projection of an ominous future that may be as close to an imitation of reality as possible. Maybe we don’t need that big phrase in the title reminding us of our impending downfall. We no longer need aesthetic visions of desert-colored apocalypse.
Maybe we just need reactionary thrusts, hypotheses for a new existential approach that will actually lead us to change reality. Doubt remains open.

don’t worry, it will all be over soon
Tita Cicognani, Guillaume Denervad, Gabriele Garavaglia, Jim C. Nedd, Jan Voricek
April 13 – July 1, 2023
Gregor Staiger Gallery, Milan