Marie Cool Fabio Balducci

Marie Cool (b.1961) and Fabio Balducci (b.1964) have been working together since 1995. Their practice reproduces actions on everyday objects and material in extremely elemental form; in doing so, they reach the possibility of reconstructing interaction and perception of time and space.

habitat extends an invitation to Cool and Balducci, as a duo, because of the revolutionary character of the indefatigable gestures.

Cool hails from the north of France and contemporary dance, while Balducci is from the province of Ancona, visual arts and cinema. The two began working together in 1995, developing a body of work that is hard to define or to insert in the classic categories of art. Composed of actions they do not call performances, objects they do not call sculptures, and works on paper they do not call drawings, the works of Marie Cool Fabio Balducci almost always make use of objects resulting from the bankruptcy of companies, or from layoffs of workers (tables, managerial desks, pencils sold off to the highest bidder, copy machines, etc.), deployed in a series of actions usually carried out by Marie herself. The objects, now removed from the production cycle, liquidated, put aside, reminders of a productivity that once existed, are reactivated by simple, slow, iconic actions that trigger complex political, social and economic reflections of great timeliness.

Past shows La Répétition, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, FR (2023). Recent solo shows Marie Cool Fabio Balducci. Dai campi all’elica, MCBA – Musée Cantonal Des Beaux Arts, Losanna, CH (2022); P420, Bologna, IT (2020); Untitled, Building Box, Milano, IT (2019); Can Carry No Weight, GAK-Bremen, DE (2019); Rovesciamento, CAPC, Musee d’art contemporain, Bordeaux, FR (2019); Poésie balistique, La Verrière, Bruxelles, BE (2018); Spiaggiamento, Marcelle Alix, Paris, FR (2017); Edif icio 1 | Area Tesmec, contemporary locus ONLUS association, Bergamo, IT (2015); Contemporary Locus 9, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo (GAMeC), Bergamo, IT (2015); Marcelle Alix, Paris, FR (2015).

Excerpt via P420