curated by Gabriele Tosi
TOAST Project Space

until 3/09/2020
Manifattura Tabacchi | Via delle Cascine 33, Firenze

Chunk​ is an industrial volume of foam, coated with a synthetic fabric which imitates animal fur. The sculpture can be installed without architectural restrictions and so presented as an almost solid element, but it can also be forced and compressed into a room, even one that is not fully able to contain it.

Chunk is an open question about the status of sculpture nowadays. This strange object, acting as a traditional sculpture but without traditional beliefs, brings out something unsolved in the narrative relation among the sculptural activity and the contemporary space.

Even if petting and moulding the artwork is a pretty easy and attractive idea, the artwork shows no particular results of any interaction. The human strength acted to shape the unknown, the unnatural and the wilderness have already been absorbed. The sculptural and performative tensions generated by the object are tamed but not in the belly.

A limited-edition catalogue ideated by Maria Cecilia Cirillo is presented by Aosta Publishing, documenting the hidden performative practices generated by the sculpture and focusing on the grammar of the entire operation. The book also includes a short essay by the curator. Chunk has been produced by Toast Project Space and realized with the collaboration of Lottozero Textile Laboratories. The project is curated by Gabriele Tosi.

Marcello Spada (Bologna, 1984) is a visual artist active between Italy and Germany. He studied Visual Arts at IUAV University Venice, at the HfBK Städelschule Frankfurt and the Sandberg Institute Amsterdam. He produces deceptive and tongue-in-cheek objects often related to the legacies of some of the post-war artists, investigating a life of artist’s intentions. He exhibited his work in public and private venues including La Quadriennale Rome, HangarBicocca Milan, Centro Luigi Pecci Prato, Viafarini Milan, LOCALEDUE Bologna, BASE Florence, TRIPLA Bologna, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa Venice, MMK Frankfurt, Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin, Weltkulturen Museum Frankfurt, Inox Copenhagen, X-Bank Amsterdam. In 2019 he was awarded a travel grant by the Hessische Kulturstiftung.

Gabriele Tosi (Pistoia, 1987) is an independent curator who co-directs LOCALDUE in Bologna. He has curated solo and collective exhibitions for non-profit spaces, galleries and institutions.

Toast Project Space, founded in 2019 by artist Stefano Giuri, is an independent space, open to sharing and experimenting with contemporary artistic practices. It puts on new exhibitions every two months, with Italian and international artists invited to produce works which engage in a dialogue with the space itself.

TOAST Project Space
Via delle Cascine 33, 50144 Firenze