L’altro, lo stesso (the other, the same) was an exhibition in which the central protagonists were nature with its extreme being, some gestures and sharp words, architectural references and enhancements…all this with the works inclined towards a collective narrative.

This second segment of the inaugural exhibition project at ZACentrale, titled Ordo naturalis, ordo artificialis, keeps a selection of works from the first iteration to act as a link between the two shows: Alfredo Jaar’s installation on the building’s façade and, inside the space, several drawings and sculptures by Marisa Merz and two tables by Mario Merz, which serve as a starting point for the exhibition. Newly presented works include work by Andreco, Fabio Aranzulla & Luca Cinquemani (aterraterra), Michele Guido, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Icy and Sot, Giorgia Lupi and Ehren Shorday, and Basim Magdy. The video installation Third Reich by Romeo Castellucci will be played on selected dates.

Ordo naturalis, ordo artificialis brings together a diverse group of artists who use differing languages to tackle a variety of issues from interconnected and plural systems. They are also information analysts, designers, climate change, human rights and agriculture activists, philosophers and directors. Thanks to their work, the exhibition project functions as a potential multiplier or an enlarged observatory which highlight the urgency to share ideas and doubts by involving multiple disciplines and viewpoints.

The presented works become a site for experimentation and exchange, for the inversion of a stomping ground, for the transformation of collective rules in which the ambiguity of an image, word and sign navigates – a semantic power which by acting on a concept, subverts it.

We asked ourselves if we should start in the middle or follow a logical order of development, whether to invert cause and effect. We haven’t found an answer, but believe that through this opposition Ordo naturalis, ordo artificialis will offer the possibility to either respect tradition or decide to unravel it.

To quote Roland Barthes: naturalis = culture and artificialis = spontaneity.

Throughout this show, the artists’ vision is compelling: the narrative around the present, existence, society, and landscapes allows images and words to open up freely in time and space, according to dynamics which find their own logic in the combination of artificial and natural elements.