Lateral Roma is an independent art space located in the Appio Latino district of Rome, Italy. Lateral Roma was founded by Geraldine Tedder and Mathias Ringgenberg a.k.a PRICE in October 2020 and is run by a team of artists and curators, currently: Marta Federici, Jazmina Figueroa, Tobias Koch, Camilla Paolino, Jacopo Rinaldi and PRICE. We are a self-organized project broadening our program beyond exhibition formats into a wider field of exchange, production, and research.
Lateral Roma’s programming is based on lateral thinking. Lateral thinking, as opposed to vertical thinking, is rooted in the erotic; it is fantastical, even irrational thinking that does not follow an obvious train of thought. It challenges routine, pattern, and norm, representing their symbolic resistance. It is playful, sometimes strange and surreal, and follows principles such as mistake/accident/humor: “You can park anywhere you like, as long as you like, as long as you leave your headlights full on”.
CURRENT
Fabio Giorgi Alberti, cane cane
curated by Vasco Forconi
cane cane started with a simple invitation made to the artist several months ago: to observe with both analytical and empathic attention the relationship with his dog Marcel, a four-year-old lagotto romagnolo. In the language they share, millennia-old gestures are intertwined with a sensibility typical of our time, which sees in deep listening to nonhuman species a possibility of salvation from the endless catastrophes produced by anthropocentrism. An ancient and deeply rooted human need emerges at the heart of this dialogue: to interrogate nature, which, if it answers, often does so in an opaque way—even though Marcel’s emotions seem to manifest themselves with almost absolute transparency.
Fabio inhabits this paradox, he is aware of the impossibility to rid himself of both his senses and his authorship. But it is through play—a deadly serious activity for the two of them—that Fabio and Marcel find a horizontal space of encounter, in which love and language blend. “With Marcel, through play, I enter into his linguistic, or rather pre-linguistic, sphere, which has not to do with words or ideas or representations, but with behaviors,” says the artist.
The entire exhibition is an attempt to translate the phenomenology of this play, making it intelligible to the senses of the audience by endlessly reproducing some of its linguistic fragments—such as a glance into the camera or a sign of greeting—by drawing some of its material traces—the stick, the favorite medium of a curious ritual—or by documenting an attempt at synchronization between the two of them.
cane cane, as with all of Fabio’s work, is a hymn to the hyper-concrete use of language as a tool to transcend the appearance of things and be surprised by the world again. Ultimately, cane cane is also a self-portrait of the artist through his double.
The show will be open by appointment until February 1 2025, please email info(at)lateralroma.eu
IN OTHER NEWS
NO MOVES TO INNOCENCE: A statement by Lateral Roma to address concerns among cultural workers and artists, published by NERO, read here.
www.instagram.com/lateralroma/
info[at]lateralroma.eu
Lateral Roma
Via Ferdinando Ughelli 28
00179 Roma RM