Residual Spaces, An Exploration of Absence

The proposed installation delves deep into the essence of detachment from the familiar, casting a new light on estrangement by way of removal, reduction, and the absence of tangible elements.

It questions the fundamental nature of space and its recognition: Is a space defined by its physical boundaries, the events it hosts, or the assets it contains?

This project challenges viewers to contemplate what a space becomes when its primary users are removed. Will observers recognize the space in its current form, or will they be drawn to memories of what it once was? What does repurposing mean in a context where the space itself never dictated a specific use?

Methods of removal aims to push the boundaries of spatial re-appropriation by stripping away what is deemed ‘essential’ and presenting the space as a blank slate—a tabula rasa. It explores the phenomenon experienced when vacating a personal space, such as an apartment, which suddenly appears larger and imbued with unfamiliarity. The installation seeks to evoke these mixed emotions, replicating them within a studio environment.

Our approach is not tied to the structural elements of the building but is instead focused on phenomenology—the study of how we experience spaces, emphasizing the experiential differences that are not related to the physical structure but to the absence and the memories that linger in empty spaces.

Smoke and Ash on Canvas
310 X 280 CM (122 1/16 X 110 1/4 IN.)
Courtesy Galleria Christian Stein, Milano

“What is called a ghost is no more than this: an image of memory that has found in the air - in the atmosphere of the house, in the shadow of the rooms, in the dirt of the walls, in the falling dust that falls - its most effective fingerprint holder.”

“The result is an immense grayness, a place for an asceticism of color, the absence of objects, the unpredictable movement of the swirls, the reign of shadow, the silence of an obsidional still life. […] Before anything else, this mobile, dense and tactile air exhales time: relics, fears. The result is an unprecedented type of disquieting strangeness. And we will have to find it in dust.”

Georges Didi-Huberman | Génie du non-lieu, 2001

writings about Delocazione (1998) by Claudio Parmiggiani

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