The Italian, Rome-based artist Carlo Gabriele Tribbioli is unlike any other artist of his generation. Decidedly at odds with the well-mannered, highly-codified mode of production that tends to dominate a good deal of contemporary art, the work of Tribbioli occupies a very unique, if perilous place in the current moment. Not only is the unorthodox thinking behind his practice potentially dangerous, he is one of the most disciplined and hardworking artists I have met in years. Having studied philosophy and possessing no formal training in art (aside from a stint as the assistant to his grandfather, the Roman artist Gianfranco Baruchello), Tribbioli is something of an anomaly, insofar as they just don’t make them like this any more. Perhaps the best way to describe what he does is to borrow Harald Szeemann’s term: individual mythology. Even if Tribbioli’s frame of reference extends well beyond the personal to the classical, it is nevertheless strongly reminiscent of Szeemann’s celebration of the creation of a complete, ideally self-sufficient universe of reference and signification in which to read the work.
Driven by complex, self-sustaining systems of thought and a predominantly classical frame of reference, projects are methodically elaborated (and documented) through performance, photography, sculpture, drawing and film over extended periods of time, such as his performative installation, Ancora agitazioni nel sepolcro del Narcigno (2007) or his Reperti per il Prossimo Milione di Anni (2007–9/2012). An exhaustive and forlorn attempt to create a contemporary mythology, this latter exhibition, which took place at Federica Schiavo Gallery in Rome in 2012, established the uncompromising mode of his hyper-intensive working method. The byproduct of a sustained effort, each work entails a rigorous and unique process of research, which is unique by virtue of the fact that it is firmly rooted in materiality and lived experience. For instance, when working on Ancora agitazioni nel sepolcro del Narcigno, Tribbioli collected as many different forms of lead as he could find in the Italian capital, in order to create the costume component that accompanied this performance. Meanwhile Reperti per il Prossimo Milione di Anni took place in a similarly systematic mode.
Initially interested in questions of time and its so-called irreversibility, the possibility of duping archeologists of the future, and the classical notion of an eternal present, Tribbioli pursued these ideas as he saw them partially embodied in Lake Averno, north of Naples. Once the site of the divinatory cult of the Sibilla (the colony of Cuma was founded in 740 bc), who conceived the body of water and its surroundings as an entrance to the netherworld, the now virtually anonymous lake can but testify to its own lack sacredness, as a place of secular profanity. Fascinated by the progression from the sacred to the profane and the lack this entails, Tribbioli sought to transform it into the site of a new mystery, whose evocation might similarly summon up the possible existence of an erstwhile cult for archeologists a thousand years from now.
Akin to the majority of Tribbioli’s practice, the following process and rite assumed absurdly epic proportions, including everything from a performance in which the artist lay on a table without moving for twenty four hours to the systematic gathering of objects and detritus while circumnavigating the perimeter of the lacustrine body. The three years of research and reflection that went into this project were ultimately distilled into what the artist calls Il Grande Corpo Solido (an elaborate time-capsule encasing various samples and fragments of his process cast in resin), which he ceremoniously deposited in the center of the lake. Paralleling the present day absence of the ancient cult, Il Grande Corpo Solido, and the oblivion to which it was delivered is crucial to Tribbioli’s entire operation by virtue not only of its elision of the “contemporary” but more importantly, of its future destiny as a mystery.
Tribbioli’s latest work, the film Fragment 53, Liberian Notes (2014) continues his preoccupation with classical themes, but set in a contemporary context. Exploring the extent to which war is integral to the composition of society and humankind, this provocative work consists of footage taken in Liberia and graphic interviews with former soldiers. Anything but politically correct, this challenging film demonstrates Tribbioli’s personal commitment to his own individual enterprise. There is nothing trendy about what he does. If anything, it is totally against the grain. And this is just one of the many distinct qualities that make his practice unlike anything else happening in contemporary art today.
- from The Registry of Promise, Roma Publication, 2015