Andrea Galvani at The RYDER, Madrid: The Theorem of Infinite Sun

Andrea Galvani
The Theorem of Infinite Sun
17 February – 2 April 2022
Opening and Live Performance | 17 February, 7 – 9pm
The RYDER, Madrid

The RYDER Projects is proud to present Andrea Galvani’s The Theorem of Infinite Sun, a multidisciplinary solo exhibition constituted by a new series of large-scale photographs, neon works, video sculpture, and live performance.

This marks the international artist’s third solo show with The RYDER and his first solo show in Madrid. Curated by Rafa Barber, The Theorem of Infinite Sun is presented with the collaboration and support of Fundación la Caixa and Colección SOLO, two of Spain’s most prestigious contemporary art institutions that have recently acquired several of Galvani’s works for their permanent collections.

Generated by a series of radical actions and rigorous research, the artworks in this show disclose secret transits and powerful transformations that enable us to escape the illusion of time as uniform and absolute, breaking the barricades of finitude and opening a new dimension into which we can physically enter.

A monumental site-specific neon and metal sculpture radiating light the same color temperature as the stars, describes a number so large its digits cannot fit within the observable Universe. Luminance fills the architectural contours of the space, the concept extends outward into the unimaginable. A video sculpture produced in collaboration with engineers and aeronautic pilots shows a never-ending sunset filmed at supersonic speeds opposite the Earth’s rotation.

Space is accelerated in order to suspend the passage of time, destabilizing boundaries through the forced perception of a ceaseless, distorted event.

A mathematical equation written in neon illuminates the public with the same frequency of the intense red light emitted by the Sun when it touches the horizon. Its numerical grammar allows us to witness the possibility of all sunrises and sunsets from every location on the planet.

A new body of immersive photographic works, presented in Europe for the first time, documents professional skydivers in free fall at dusk. Solitary figures suspended in the transit of light evoke vertiginous sensations of ascension and decline, elevation and the fall.

In this spectacular series, the artist focuses our attention to the essential relationship between time and the force of gravity, introducing a profound analysis on the malleability of time and its invisible stratification.

Through intensive intervention, a live performance produced in collaboration with researchers from the Universidad Complutense and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid gradually engulfs the gallery in a constellation of handwritten calculations—deconstructing, designating, and interrogating the very nature of the reality that surrounds us and the physical phenomena that constitute the exhibition.

Time manifests as cosmic movements: the transit of light from day to night, tracing the orbit of our planet around the Sun. We generally float through time, passively obeying its cyclical rhythms and respecting its seemingly impenetrable parameters.

But in The Theorem of Infinite Sun, Andrea Galvani forces, compresses, and extends its rigid perimeter. In this show, time becomes malleable as the artist imposes new forms—inviting us to enter into a dimension that is real, concrete, and possible.

During the opening reception on 17 February, 7-9pm and at specific times throughout the exhibition, the artist will present The Subtleties of Elevated Things, a live performance by Andrea Galvani produced in collaboration with researchers from the Universidad Complutense and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Transforming the gallery into a living laboratory, the space will be gradually engulfed in a constellation of handwritten calculations—deconstructing, designating, and interrogating the very nature of the reality that surrounds us and the physical phenomena that constitute the exhibition.

This immersive, site-specific project has been presented as an intensive, 4-month long intervention in collaboration with the Sapienza Università di Roma, CERN, and Virgo Data Analysis Group from July – November 2020 for the artist’s monumental solo museum exhibition La sottigliezza delle cose elevate, curated by Angel Moya Garcia at the Mattatoio Roma / MACRO Testaccio. The RYDER Projects is proud to premiere this performance in Madrid after presenting its international debut in London in 2015. Other previous presentations have taken place in New York, México City, Lima, Bogotá, and Switzerland.

The Subtleties of Elevated Things reveals the human effort behind the numbers: the raw process of computation and analysis, normally invisible to us, becomes the center of the action.

Within these calculations, there is a Universe. They trace time, preserving the work of the past, orienting our knowledge in the present, and pointing towards the future. They allow the magical richness of scientific theories to unfold, opening new languages and touching the nature of the phenomena they express. Behind each calculation is a constellation, thousands of steps in ongoing processes of scientific inquiry, mathematically mapping the meandering paths of relentless minds that sometimes triumph and often fail.

Andrea Galvani (b. 1973, Italy) lives and works in New York and Mexico City.

Galvani has exhibited internationally, including at the Whitney Museum, New York; the 4th Moscow Biennial for Contemporary Art; the Mediations Biennial, Poznań, Poland; 9th Biennial of Contemporary Art of Nicaragua; Art in General, New York; Aperture Foundation, New York; The Calder Foundation, New York; Pavilion – Center for Contemporary Art and Culture, Bucharest; Mart Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Trento; Macro Museum, Rome; GAMeC, Bergamo; De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam; Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen; Sculpture Center, New York; among others.

His work is part of major public and private collections in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa, including: the Permanent Collection at the Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; Deutsche Bank Collection, London; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Fundación la Caixa, Madrid; Artist Pension Trust, New York; the Contemporary Art Society, Aspen Collection, New York; the UniCredit Art Collection, Milan; the Permanent Collection of the United States Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC; the Mart Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto; the 500 Capp Street Foundation, San Francisco; and MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome.

He was a visiting artist at New York University, and has completed several artist residencies in New York, including Location One International Artist Residency Program, the LMCC Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and the MIA Artist Space Program/Columbia University School of the Arts.

In 2011, he received the New York Exposure Prize and was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. In 2016, the Mart Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto presented Galvani’s first mid-career retrospective in Europe. In 2017, his work was selected to represent the Deutsche Bank Collection at Frieze New York. Andrea Galvani (Mousse Publishing), a comprehensive monograph of over 10 years of work and research, was published September 2018 and is distributed worldwide. In 2019, he was awarded the prestigious Audemars Piguet Prize. In 2020, the artist presented a monumental solo show and 4-month long durational performance at the Mattatoio Roma / MACRO Testaccio. In 2022, the artist will represent Italy at the XXIII Triennale di Milano International Exhibition Unknown Unknowns: An Introduction to Mystery, curated by Ersilia Vaudo Scarpetta.

Andrea Galvani
The Theorem of Infinite Sun

• 17th February – 2nd April 2022
• Public Opening and Live performance:
  The Subtleties of Elevated Things, Andrea Galvani
  Thursday 17th February, 7 – 9pm
• Opening hours:
  Tuesday – Friday, 11.30 – 7pm
  Saturdays, 11 – 2.30pm
• The RYDER, Miguel Servet 13, Madrid 28012

www.theryderprojects.com
+34 669 336 550
info@theryderprojects.com