Marco Maggi’s drawings, sculptures, and installations encode the world.
Composed of linear structures that suggest electronic circuit boards, aerial views of impossible cities, genetic engineering blueprints, or branching nervous systems, his drawings are a thesaurus of the infinitesimal and the indecipherable. Marco Maggi’s abstract language alludes to the way information is processed in the global era. His work challenges the very notion of drawing itself. For the 56th Venice Biennale, Maggi presents GLOBAL MYOPIA (pencil & paper), a site-specific installation made with self-adhesive paper and pencils inside the pavilion.
To claim that the world is myopic sounds derogatory: a planet with no perspective, moving forward without a sense of direction. Marco Maggi, on the contrary, reclaims and prescribes myopia as the extraordinary ability to see up close. Nearsightedness allows one to carefully focus on invisible details. It also challenges the acceleration and overuse of long-distance relationships—hallmarks of our time. After a hyperopic 20th century, which failed to deliver the promised solutions for everyone, always, it is time to nurture our empathy for the immediate and the insignificant.
In GLOBAL MYOPIA (pencil & paper), the two basic elements of drawing—paper and pencil—are separated, and the act of drawing is divided into two stages. A portable game composed of 10,000 cut pieces of self-adhesive paper becomes a meaningless alphabet that the artist has folded, unfolded, and stuck to the walls over the three months leading up to the Biennale. These tiny pieces of paper were scattered and connected according to specific movement rules and the typical syntax of sediment accumulation. The paper drawing colonies on the walls engage in dialogue with a sophisticated lighting system by Erco. Countless high-definition shadows and infinitesimal incandescent projections aim to slow down the viewer—the project’s sole ambition: to promote pauses, to make time visible.
Commissioner: Ricardo Pascale
Curator: Patricia Bentancur
Photos sourced from universes.art