Anna Franceschini: All Those Stuffed Shirts
May 24 – July 2, 2023
Triennale Milano presents Anna Franceschini’s latest project, All Those Stuffed Shirts, curated by Damiano Gullì, from May 24 to July 2, 2023.
Specially created and designed for Triennale, the installation features seven automatic ironing machines, which the artist refers to as “dressmen”. Their inner workings modified, re-educated with new algorithms, the dressmen perform a cyclical score using their only means of expression: air.
The title All Those Stuffed Shirts alludes to an Anglo-Saxon idiom for a person full of themselves, conceited, conservative and reactionary, a real “blowhard”. The expression’s emphasis on the garment denigrates the wearer, who is perceived as mere filler. In 2012, Anna Franceschini created a video installation that framed ironing machines at the site where they were made; using them in demo mode, she highlighted their sculptural nature and value as readymades. For Triennale, Franceschini uncaged the dressmen from this framing and unleashed them on the exhibition space.
Please contact triennale@alphakilo.com for more information.
Photo Credit: Andrea Rossetti