At Galleria Fumagalli in Bergamo, Maurizio Nannucci presents seven new monochromatic luminous writings that cross the entire gallery space and wrap it with their colored reflections, creating a unitary path that affirms the semantic versatility between color, light and language. SHOCK is the keyword of this seven-neon installation. Referring to Walter Benjamin’s philosophy, Maurizio Nannucci places “Shock” at the centre of the space as the primary category of perception and highlights the double effect of the provocative and sudden perfecting of the senses; on one hand a deep emotion that can be paralyzing, on the other, the sense stimulation and the impulse to action, which derived from an unexpected situation.

LOOK / HEAR – The shock temporarily overwhelms the eye and ear and then transforms the provocation into a new and unknown experience through a deeper process. This shift from a temporary stunned condition of the senses up to the mental elaboration of experience distinguishes shock as an artistic medium from the “shocking” as a typical effect of the consumer society. The “shocking” artwork does not consider the repetition and recognition of the usual, but transforms continuity into discontinuity and guides attention towards levels of experience that are independent from the traditional norms. In this way the artist explores the possibilities of getting rid of the compulsion to reproduce conventions, to exorcise myths and to celebrate rituals.

From this point of view, the shock as a cultural and artistic technique takes on an emancipatory meaning, always keeping its two-faced face. However, the danger persists that the shocked person may be overwhelmed by the preponderance of unexpected and violent stirrings, that the person may fall without orientation into nothing or be totally blinded by their excitement. During this extreme path between dizziness and reorientation, Maurizio Nannucci lets the unusual experience of his work flow into a cognitive and visionary process with which to explore the semantic abundance and the potential of meanings and signs.