EXHIBITIONS
CURRENT

Galeria Mario Cohen
October 19 – November 25, 2023
EXTENDED UNTIL DECEMBER 2023
Sao Paulo, Brazil
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UMA FLOR NÃO É UMA FLORE
a flower is not a flower
Costantini’s solo exhibition
at Galeria Mario Cohen
São Paulo, Brazil
Curated by Clara Rios
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Curated by Clara Rios, the show is centered around “those successive walks where the end is lost, and freedom is found, where artistic action emerges, from the only space impossible to control, the unconscious. In navigating through the forests of unreason, the poetic character of natural phenomena can be seen: a mystical light that crosses a leaf, a rock that shines like the moon, a green that exhales life.”
Curatorial text in Portuguese
By Clara Ríos
uma flor não é uma flor
Edo Costantini
Erik Satie ficou conhecido, entre outras coisas, por escrever músicas tentando que o intérprete afunde no inconsciente no momento de tocá-la. O corpo da peça, seus gestos, seu tempo, silêncios, sua dicção, estavam sujeitos à interpretação subjetiva do músico, suas mãos são dirigidas pelo instinto mais básico, desconcertante e desconhecido.
Read more
Satie até sugeriu mandamentos para tocá-las, como “fique (não muito tempo) na sua frente” ou outros do tipo “não coma demais”. A sua música exala confusão ou, parafraseando o autor, dúvidas na alma. No inconsciente, Satie falava que os místicos sons primitivos podiam ser encontrados, aqueles que o pensamento escondia há séculos.
Edo Costantini aperta o obturador quando uma imagem mística primitiva se apresenta diante dele, aquilo que a poluição visual (e mental) não permitem ver. Como um navio à deriva, o artista viaja pela paisagem que rodeia a sua casa, sem ver um mapa. Desde aquele lugar desprovido de imposições, ele tenta repensar a simbologia das coisas. O mundo é modificado pela percepção que o artista tem dele, e assim surge a busca,as dúvidas e, por fim, o elemental nesses lugares.
A edição de seus experimentos na natureza é sustentada por um ritmo emocional, de carácter intimista, onde o artista se dedica a contemplar os fenômenos que o rodeiam. Nessa contemplação, sua imaginação percorre a formação daquilo que observa, a profundidade da qual se originam as cores, formas e luzes que ele descreve em suas fotografias. É lá onde ele localiza aquilo que o comove, o sublime.
Naqueles sucessivos caminhos onde se perde o fim e se encontra a liberdade, emerge a ação artística do único espaço impossível de capitalizar e controlar, o inconsciente. No navegar nas florestas da desrazão, o caráter poético dos fenômenos naturais se revela: uma luz mística que atravessa uma folha, uma pedra que brilha como a lua, um verde que exala vida. Como se fizesse este exercício há séculos, sem exigir nada da paisagem, o artista mergulha no estado contemplativo, acessando as composições que brotam da matéria vegetal.
Como indica o título da série, uma flor não é uma flor. Uma flor é a experiência de artista nessas saídas ao exterior. Uma flor é o estado contemplativo romântico que surge quando se pensa na paisagem como resultado de uma única força no mundo, que organiza e cria o que vemos. Uma flor é a observação respeitosa do meio ambiente, é o pensamento de origem. Uma flor, aquela flor, é matizada pelo insistente ensaio de Edo, que, mobilizado em busca do clássico distanciamento do homem da cidade, encontra no fundo do seu ser, no seu inconsciente, uma direção sem direção, que o enfrenta a cenas impossíveis de ver de outra forma.
Talvez assim como Satie, Edo, também músico, apela às emoções daqueles que se conectam com suas peças. Talvez, neste ensaio, como o autor musical, o artista proponha secretamente afirmações para observar seus trabalhos: “respire fundo e deixe-se perder” ou “pegue na mão da pessoa ao seu lado e segure com força até não sentir mais onde começa e termina o outro.” Talvez, ao sugerir um desvio de pensamento ao entrar na intimidade das imagens, nos propõe começar a contemplar para analisar mais cuidadosamente o que está diante de nós, sem necessidade de explotá-lo, mas sim entender melhor. Talvez a imagem mística primitiva esteja nos apontando para algo que há séculos estava escondido e em perigo diante dos nossos olhos.
Clara Ríos, setembro de 2023
Curatorial text in Spanish
By Clara Ríos
uma flor não é uma flor
Edo Costantini
Erik Satie fue conocido, entre otras cosas, por escribir música en búsqueda de que el intérprete se hunda en el inconsciente al momento de tocarla. El cuerpo de lapieza, su gestualidad, su tiempo, silencios, su dicción, estaban sometidos a lainterpretación subjetiva del músico, sus manos eran dirigidas por el instinto más elemental, desconcertante y desconocido.
Read more
Satie llegó hasta a sugerir mandamientos para tocarlas, como “permanezca (no demasiado) delante de usted”u otras del estilo “no coma demasiado”. Su música destilaba confusión, o, parafraseando al autor, dudas en el alma. En el inconsciente, Satie sostenía que se podían encontrar los místicos sonidos primitivos, aquellos que el pensamientollevaba siglos ocultando.
Edo Costantini presiona el obturador cuando una mística imagen primitiva se presenta frente a él, aquella que la contaminación visual (y mental) no dejan ver. Como un barco a la deriva, el artista recorre el paisaje que rodea su hogar, sinvislumbrar un mapa. Desde ese lugar desprovisto de imposiciones, intenta repensar la simbología de las cosas. El mundo se ve modificado por la percepción del artista sobre él, y así surge la búsqueda, las dudas, y finalmente, lo elemental en esosparajes.
La edición de sus experimentaciones en la naturaleza se apoya en un ritmo emocional, de carácter intimista, donde el artista se dedica a contemplar losfenómenos que lo rodean. En esa contemplación, su imaginación recorre laformación de lo que observa, la profundidad de donde vienen los colores, formas yluces que él describe en sus fotografías. Allí, es que localiza aquello que loconmueve, lo sublime.
En esos sucesivos paseos donde se pierde el fin y encuentra la libertad, emerge laacción artística, del único espacio imposible de capitalizar y controlar, elinconsciente. En el navegar por los bosques de la sin razón el carácter poético de los fenómenos naturales se deja ver: una luz mística que atraviesa una hoja, una roca que brilla como la luna, un verde que exhala vida. Como si llevase sigloshaciendo este ejercicio y sin exigirle nada al paisaje, el artista se sumerge en elestado contemplativo, accediendo a las composiciones que brotan de la materia vegetal.
Como indica el título de la serie, una flor no es una flor. Una flor es la experiencia del artista en esas salidas al exterior. Una flor es el estado contemplativo románticoque surge al pensar al paisaje como el resultado de una única fuerza en el mundo, que organiza y crea lo que vemos. Una flor es la observación respetuosa delentorno, es el pensamiento del origen. Una flor, esa flor, está matizada por elensayo insistente de Edo, que, movilizado en búsqueda del clásico alejamiento delhombre de la ciudad, encuentra en lo profundo de su ser, en su inconsciente, una dirección sin dirección, que lo deja frente a escenas imposibles de ver de otraforma.
Quizás como Satie, Edo, también músico, apele a las emociones de quien conecta con sus piezas. Quizás, en este ensayo, como el autor musical, el artista secretamente proponga enunciados para observar sus obras: “inhale profundo ydéjese perder” o “tome la mano de la persona a su lado y sujete con fuerza hasta que ya no sienta donde empieza uno y termina el otro”. Quizás, al sugerir un desvíode pensamiento al adentrarse en la intimidad de las imágenes, nos propongacomenzar a contemplar para analizar con más detenimiento aquello que tenemosdelante, sin necesidad de explotarlo, sino de entenderlo mejor. Quizás, la mística imagen primitiva nos esté señalando algo que lleva siglos escondido, y que peligrafrente a nuestros ojos.
Clara Ríos, septiembre de 2023.
Curatorial text in English
By Clara Ríos
a flower is not a flower
Edo Costantini
Erik Satie was known, among other things, for writing music in the search for the interpreter to sink into the unconscious at the moment of playing it. The body of the piece, its gestures, its tempo, its silences, its diction, were subjected to the subjective interpretation of the musician, his hands were directed by the most elemental, disconcerting and unknown instinct.
Read more
Satie went so far as to suggest commandments for playing them, such as “stay (not too much) in front of you” or others like “don’t eat too much”. His music exuded confusion, or, to paraphrase the author, doubts in the soul. In the unconscious, Satie argued, one could Hind the mystical primitive sounds, those that thought had been hiding for centuries.
Edo Costantini presses the shutter when a mystical primitive image appears in front of him, the one that visual (and mental) contamination does not let us see. Like a drifting boat, the artist travels through the landscape surrounding his home, without a glimpse of a map. From this place devoid of impositions, he tries to rethink the symbolism of things. The world is modified by the artist’s perception of it, and thus arises the search, the doubts, and Finally, the elemental in those places.
The edition of his experiments in nature is based on an emotional rhythm, of an intimate character, where the artist dedicates himself to contemplate the phenomena that surround him. In that contemplation, his imagination travels through the formation of what he observes, the depth from where the colors, shapes and lights that he describes in his photographs come from. There, he locates that which moves him, the sublime.
In those successive walks where he loses the end and finds freedom, artistic action emerges from the only space impossible to capitalize and control, the unconscious. In navigating through the forests of unreason the poetic character of natural phenomena can be seen: a mystical light that crosses a leaf, a rock that shines like the moon, a green that exhales life. As if he has been doing this exercise for centuries and without demanding anything from the landscape, the artist immerses himself in a contemplative state, accessing the compositions that spring from the vegetable matter.
As the title of the series indicates, a flower is not a flower. A flower is the artist’s experience in these outings. A flower is the romantic contemplative state that arises from thinking of the landscape as the result of a single force in the world that organizes and creates what we see. A flower is the respectful observation of the environment, it is the thought of the origin. A flower, that flower, is tinged by the insistent essay of Edo, who, mobilized in search of the classic distancing of man from the city, finds in the depths of his being, in his unconscious, a direction without direction, which leaves him in front of scenes impossible to see in any other way.
Perhaps like Satie, Edo, also a musician, appeals to the emotions of those who connect with his pieces. Perhaps, in this essay, like the musical author, the artist secretly proposes statements to observe his works: “inhale deeply and let yourself get lost” or “take the hand of the person next to you and hold tightly until you no longer feel where one begins and the other ends”. Perhaps, by suggesting a detour of thought when entering into the intimacy of the images, he proposes that we begin to contemplate in order to analyze more closely what we have in front of us, without the need to exploit it, but to understand it better. Perhaps, the mystical primitive image is pointing out to us something that has been hidden for centuries, and that is in danger in front of our eyes.
Clara Rıós, September 2023
JSL GALLERY
October 19
333 NE 59th Street
Miami, Florida
JSL Gallery is pleased to present “Endless Summer,” a group exhibition featuring works by Isabel Bornstein, Edo Costantini, Fitzhugh Karol, Juan Lamarca, Frederic Pinet, and Tati Soko.
Please join us for the Opening Reception
Thursday, October 19th from 6 to 9 PM.
RSVP to: info@jslgallery.com
PAST
SILENCIO
(a flower is not a flower)
Chinatown Soup, 16B Orchard St., New York, NY
Opening reception Thursday, April 27, from 6-8 pm
Chinatown Soup Gallery is pleased to present Silencio (a flower is not a flower), a landscape photography series by Edo Costantini, on view from April 25 – May 7, 2023.
This exhibition marks the completion of the artist’s latest EP, SILENCIO, Four Songs for the End of our Times, made in collaboration with Mauro Refosco (percussion) and Gabe Cabezas (Cello), was released as The Orpheists and his titular book debut, featuring photographic images and music scores. This body of work is part of a five years project, which also includes the filming of The Final Blow, a conceptual documentary centered on the beauty and fragility of nature, as demonstrated through the rhythm of passing time, season by season.
Please join us for an opening reception on Thursday, April 27, from 6-8 pm.
You are also invited to a reading with live music on the occasion of the artist’s book release in conjunction with his exhibition at Soup Gallery, on Thursday, May 4, 7-9 pm.
Waldeinsamkeit e idiorritmia.
On Edo Costantini
By Bárbara Golubicki
A practice has existed, since time immemorial, attributed to both Eastern and Western monastic traditions, one that has been revitalized in the context of recent years. Fortified in the heart of German romantic culture (and later in its philosophy), Waldeinsamkeit condenses both an experience and a practice. Understood both as “forest solitude”, but also as “the act of going to the forest”, even getting lost, the concept harbors ascetic ideals, mystical horizons, and a concern about the problem of virtue. For years, before gaining therapeutic credentials as a way to detoxify from contemporary urban life, Edo Costantini indulged in a routine: walking through the Katonah woods with his camera in hand, for hours, every day…
Waldeinsamkeit e idiorritmia.
Sobre Edo Costantini
Por Bárbara Golubicki
Existe, desde tiempos inmemoriales, atribuida a tradiciones monaquistas tanto orientales como occidentales, una práctica que el contexto de los últimos años se revitalizó. Fortificada en el seno de la cultura romántica alemana (y luego en su filosofía), Waldeinsamkeit condensa al mismo tiempo una experiencia y una práctica. Entendido, tanto como “soledad del bosque”, pero también como “el acto de irse al bosque”, incluso perderse, en el concepto anidan ideales ascéticos, horizontes místicos, y una inquietud sobre el problema de la virtud. Durante años, antes de que obtuviera credenciales terapéuticas como modo de desintoxicarse de la vida urbana contemporánea, Edo Costantini se entregó a una rutina: caminar por el bosque de Katonah con su cámara en mano durante horas, todos los días…
Read more
Settled in this town located north of New York City, the geography of the place offered him this aesthetic and ethical space. Not only the spectacularity of a singular landscape that combines ancient forest formations, between stone, mountain and snow, but also the resonance of a ritual space, which projects a topography typical of the native culture of the United States. Chief Katonah himself, the leader of the tribes known as the Ramapo, who inhabited the area at the end of the 17th century and from whom the town takes its name, is said to be buried in these forests. In this sense, Costantini’s photographic work took the form of a true spiritual exercise, a gymnastic sensitive to the environment, but also a way of letting oneself be worked by it, and in this way to create a small habitat, not only to reproduce the landscape but also to inhabit it.
The series of photographs taken between 2018 and 2023, within the framework of this methodical life, opens the possibility of measuring oneself with the world. Not just appear before it, before the silent panorama of his beauty; but also to capture the dimension of the world on the scale of one’s own vision: that which becomes apprehensible, capturable. It is therefore a question of not only activating the naturalist’s attitude , of the collector and the work diary, but at the same time, of developing a sensitivity in that register. Thus, the inventory of moments captured by Costantini vacillates between the regime of the encounter: a color, a light, a brightness, a movement, and the construction of a regularity, the spectrum of a pattern. In this way, we find a principle of precision in his shots, which requires more than one image to distill the sensitive quality of the scene (hence his diptychs and triptychs that return to the same fragment), but also a principle of abstraction that allows his objects to blur or disappear behind their shapes. Thus it is possible to see how the flower fades in the series A flower is not a flower, in which he covers Magritte’s occurrence, since under Costantini’s eye any flower is not limited to being just a flower, but exceeds that substance to become a bundle of sensations dispersed in a time that also contains its own disappearance. Or the image of snow, which again searches for the possibility of reducing the image to its lines, its contours and its white, as if photography was searching for that moment of clarity.
This meticulousness, this effect of closeness, coexists with repetition and insistence, as if this individuation work was in contact with the general mode of his movement, of a broader and more comprehensive choreography. The notion of idiorhythm, recovered by Roland Barthes, denotes this coexistence: it derives from the Greek word idios (particular) and rythmós (rhythm). Rhythm defines the subject’s relationship with the world, and the task of art is to modulate its shape, not to be run over by the vertigo of the contemporary, by foreign scores, but to find its own frequency between harmony and resonance with the outside. It is not by chance, therefore, that Costantini also finds in music a means of this relationship, where the figure of silence resonates in the figures of the visual void, just as the musical textures can only be infected by the textures of the image. In 2019 Edo Costantini founded The Orpheists, a music band in which he writes songs on the piano and then invites other musicians to add sounds, textures. His first album SILENCIO, along with the percussionist Mauro Refosco, Gabriel Cabezas on cello and Jake Owen on the mix and production; fuses classical music instruments with electronic media. His first video, First Snow on KATONAH, released in December 2022 on the KOLAPSE platform, records the arrival of one of the wildest snowstorms in the last hundred years, at the edge of the forest. The piece explores the similarities between sound, image and experience, as if in each case it were a delicate labor of translation, transmission and survival. In effect, the piece (as well as the whole of his work) seems to be tinged with the tone and climate of a response, fusing the present of the performance with a profound past, making the cyclical ancestry of nature resonate with the possibility of its destruction. Costantini, naturalist and ascetic, photographer and musician, is also a viator, a traveler who stands out from the rest, under the imperative of recording a world that is there, which it is better to not forget because it lives under the threat of its end, for which a trace must be left so that it is not forgotten.
Read more
Asentado en este pueblo ubicado al norte de la ciudad de Nueva York, la geografía del lugar le ofreció este espacio estético y ético. No solo la espectacularidad de un paisaje singular, que combina formaciones boscosas milenarias, entre piedra, montaña y nieve, sino también la resonancia de un espacio ritual, que proyecta una topografía propia de la cultura nativa de los Estados Unidos. Se dice que en esos bosques está enterrado el propio jefe Katonah, el líder de las tribus conocidas como Ramapo, que habitaron la zona a finales del siglo XVII y de quien el pueblo toma su nombre. En este sentido, el trabajo fotográfico de Costantini adoptó la forma de un verdadero ejercicio espiritual, una gimnasia sensible sobre el entorno, pero también un modo de dejarse trabajar por él, y de esa manera hacerse un pequeño hábitat, no solo para reproducir el paisaje sino también para habitarlo.
La serie de fotografías tomadas entre 2018 y 2023, en el marco de esta vida metódica, abre la posibilidad de medirse con el mundo. No solo comparecer ante él, ante el panorama mudo de su belleza; sino también de captar la dimensión del mundo en la escala de la propia visión: aquello que de él se vuelve aprehensible, capturable. Se trata, por lo tanto, no solo de activar la actitud del naturalista, del diario de trabajo, del coleccionista, sino al mismo tiempo, de elaborar una sensibilidad en ese registro. Así, el inventario de momentos atrapados por Costantini vacila entre el régimen del encuentro: un color, una luz, un brillo, un movimiento, y la construcción de una regularidad, el espectro de un patrón. De este modo, encontramos un principio de precisión en sus tomas, que necesita de más de una imagen para destilar la cualidad sensible de la escena (de ahí sus dípticos y trípticos que vuelven sobre el mismo fragmento), pero también un principio de abstracción que permite que sus objetos se desconfiguren o desaparezcan detrás de sus formas. Así es posible ver como la flor se desvanece en la serie A flower is not a flower, en la que versiona la ocurrencia de Magritte, ya que bajo el ojo de Costantini cualquier flor no se limita a ser solamente una flor, sino excede esa sustancia para transformarse en un haz de sensaciones dispersas en un tiempo que contiene también su propia desaparición. O la imagen de la nieve, que busca otra vez la posibilidad de reducir la imagen a sus líneas, sus contornos y al blanco, como si la fotografía estuviera en busca de ese momento de claridad.
Esta minuciosidad, este efecto de cercanía, convive con la repetición y la insistencia, como si ese trabajo de individuación estuviera en contacto con el modo general de su movimiento, de una coreografía más amplia e integral. La noción de idiorritmo, que recuperó Roland Barthes, denota esa coexistencia: deriva del vocablo griego idios (particular) y rythmós (ritmo). El ritmo define la relación del sujeto con el mundo, y la tarea del arte es modular su forma, no dejarse atropellar por el vértigo de lo contemporáneo, por partituras ajenas, sino encontrar una frecuencia propia entre la armonía y la resonancia con el exterior. No resulta azaroso, por ello, que Costantini encuentre en la música también un medio de esa relación, donde en las figuras del vacío visual resuena la figura del silencio, así como las texturas musicales no pueden sino estar contagiadas por las texturas de la imagen. En 2019, Edo Costantini fundó The Orpheists, una banda de música en la que él escribe canciones en el piano y luego invita a otros músicos a sumar otros sonidos, texturas. Su primer album SILENCIO, junto al percusionista Mauro Refosco, Gabriel Cabezas en el Cello y Jake Owen en la mezcla y produccion; fusiona instrumentos de música clásica con medios electrónicos. Su primer video, First Snow on KATONAH, lanzado en diciembre de 2022 en la plataforma KOLAPSE, registra la llegada de una de las tormentas de nieve más salvajes de los últimos cien años, a la vera del bosque. La pieza explora las semejanzas entre sonido, imagen y experiencia, como si en cada caso se tratara de una delicada labor de traducción, transmisión y supervivencia. En efecto, la pieza (así como el conjunto de su trabajo) parece estar teñida por el tono y el clima de un responso, fusionando el presente de la ejecución con un pasado profundo, haciendo resonar la ancestralidad cíclica de la naturaleza con la posibilidad de su destrucción. Costantini, naturalista y asceta, fotógrafo y músico, también es viator, un viajero que se recorta del resto, bajo el imperativo de dejar constancia de un mundo que está ahí, que más vale no olvidar porque vive bajo la amenaza de su final, del que se debe dejar huella para que no se olvide.
SILENCIO
(a flower is not a flower)
Chinatown Soup, 16B Orchard St., New York, NY
Opening reception Thursday, April 27, from 6-8 pm
Chinatown Soup Gallery is pleased to present Silencio (a flower is not a flower), a landscape photography series by Edo Costantini, on view from April 25 – May 7, 2023.
This exhibition marks the completion of the artist’s latest EP, SILENCIO, Four Songs for the End of our Times, made in collaboration with Mauro Refosco (percussion) and Gabe Cabezas (Cello), was released as The Orpheists and his titular book debut, featuring photographic images and music scores. This body of work is part of a five years project, which also includes the filming of The Final Blow, a conceptual documentary centered on the beauty and fragility of nature, as demonstrated through the rhythm of passing time, season by season.
Please join us for an opening reception on Thursday, April 27, from 6-8 pm.
You are also invited to a reading with live music on the occasion of the artist’s book release in conjunction with his exhibition at Soup Gallery, on Thursday, May 4, 7-9 pm.
Waldeinsamkeit e idiorritmia.
On Edo Costantini
By Bárbara Golubicki
A practice has existed, since time immemorial, attributed to both Eastern and Western monastic traditions, one that has been revitalized in the context of recent years. Fortified in the heart of German romantic culture (and later in its philosophy), Waldeinsamkeit condenses both an experience and a practice. Understood both as “forest solitude”, but also as “the act of going to the forest”, even getting lost, the concept harbors ascetic ideals, mystical horizons, and a concern about the problem of virtue. For years, before gaining therapeutic credentials as a way to detoxify from contemporary urban life, Edo Costantini indulged in a routine: walking through the Katonah woods with his camera in hand, for hours, every day…
Read more
Settled in this town located north of New York City, the geography of the place offered him this aesthetic and ethical space. Not only the spectacularity of a singular landscape that combines ancient forest formations, between stone, mountain and snow, but also the resonance of a ritual space, which projects a topography typical of the native culture of the United States. Chief Katonah himself, the leader of the tribes known as the Ramapo, who inhabited the area at the end of the 17th century and from whom the town takes its name, is said to be buried in these forests. In this sense, Costantini’s photographic work took the form of a true spiritual exercise, a gymnastic sensitive to the environment, but also a way of letting oneself be worked by it, and in this way to create a small habitat, not only to reproduce the landscape but also to inhabit it.
The series of photographs taken between 2018 and 2023, within the framework of this methodical life, opens the possibility of measuring oneself with the world. Not just appear before it, before the silent panorama of his beauty; but also to capture the dimension of the world on the scale of one’s own vision: that which becomes apprehensible, capturable. It is therefore a question of not only activating the naturalist’s attitude , of the collector and the work diary, but at the same time, of developing a sensitivity in that register. Thus, the inventory of moments captured by Costantini vacillates between the regime of the encounter: a color, a light, a brightness, a movement, and the construction of a regularity, the spectrum of a pattern. In this way, we find a principle of precision in his shots, which requires more than one image to distill the sensitive quality of the scene (hence his diptychs and triptychs that return to the same fragment), but also a principle of abstraction that allows his objects to blur or disappear behind their shapes. Thus it is possible to see how the flower fades in the series A flower is not a flower, in which he covers Magritte’s occurrence, since under Costantini’s eye any flower is not limited to being just a flower, but exceeds that substance to become a bundle of sensations dispersed in a time that also contains its own disappearance. Or the image of snow, which again searches for the possibility of reducing the image to its lines, its contours and its white, as if photography was searching for that moment of clarity.
This meticulousness, this effect of closeness, coexists with repetition and insistence, as if this individuation work was in contact with the general mode of his movement, of a broader and more comprehensive choreography. The notion of idiorhythm, recovered by Roland Barthes, denotes this coexistence: it derives from the Greek word idios (particular) and rythmós (rhythm). Rhythm defines the subject’s relationship with the world, and the task of art is to modulate its shape, not to be run over by the vertigo of the contemporary, by foreign scores, but to find its own frequency between harmony and resonance with the outside. It is not by chance, therefore, that Costantini also finds in music a means of this relationship, where the figure of silence resonates in the figures of the visual void, just as the musical textures can only be infected by the textures of the image. In 2019 Edo Costantini founded The Orpheists, a music band in which he writes songs on the piano and then invites other musicians to add sounds, textures. His first album SILENCIO, along with the percussionist Mauro Refosco, Gabriel Cabezas on cello and Jake Owen on the mix and production; fuses classical music instruments with electronic media. His first video, First Snow on KATONAH, released in December 2022 on the KOLAPSE platform, records the arrival of one of the wildest snowstorms in the last hundred years, at the edge of the forest. The piece explores the similarities between sound, image and experience, as if in each case it were a delicate labor of translation, transmission and survival. In effect, the piece (as well as the whole of his work) seems to be tinged with the tone and climate of a response, fusing the present of the performance with a profound past, making the cyclical ancestry of nature resonate with the possibility of its destruction. Costantini, naturalist and ascetic, photographer and musician, is also a viator, a traveler who stands out from the rest, under the imperative of recording a world that is there, which it is better to not forget because it lives under the threat of its end, for which a trace must be left so that it is not forgotten.
Waldeinsamkeit e idiorritmia.
Sobre Edo Costantini
Por Bárbara Golubicki
Existe, desde tiempos inmemoriales, atribuida a tradiciones monaquistas tanto orientales como occidentales, una práctica que el contexto de los últimos años se revitalizó. Fortificada en el seno de la cultura romántica alemana (y luego en su filosofía), Waldeinsamkeit condensa al mismo tiempo una experiencia y una práctica. Entendido, tanto como “soledad del bosque”, pero también como “el acto de irse al bosque”, incluso perderse, en el concepto anidan ideales ascéticos, horizontes místicos, y una inquietud sobre el problema de la virtud. Durante años, antes de que obtuviera credenciales terapéuticas como modo de desintoxicarse de la vida urbana contemporánea, Edo Costantini se entregó a una rutina: caminar por el bosque de Katonah con su cámara en mano durante horas, todos los días…
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Asentado en este pueblo ubicado al norte de la ciudad de Nueva York, la geografía del lugar le ofreció este espacio estético y ético. No solo la espectacularidad de un paisaje singular, que combina formaciones boscosas milenarias, entre piedra, montaña y nieve, sino también la resonancia de un espacio ritual, que proyecta una topografía propia de la cultura nativa de los Estados Unidos. Se dice que en esos bosques está enterrado el propio jefe Katonah, el líder de las tribus conocidas como Ramapo, que habitaron la zona a finales del siglo XVII y de quien el pueblo toma su nombre. En este sentido, el trabajo fotográfico de Costantini adoptó la forma de un verdadero ejercicio espiritual, una gimnasia sensible sobre el entorno, pero también un modo de dejarse trabajar por él, y de esa manera hacerse un pequeño hábitat, no solo para reproducir el paisaje sino también para habitarlo.
La serie de fotografías tomadas entre 2018 y 2023, en el marco de esta vida metódica, abre la posibilidad de medirse con el mundo. No solo comparecer ante él, ante el panorama mudo de su belleza; sino también de captar la dimensión del mundo en la escala de la propia visión: aquello que de él se vuelve aprehensible, capturable. Se trata, por lo tanto, no solo de activar la actitud del naturalista, del diario de trabajo, del coleccionista, sino al mismo tiempo, de elaborar una sensibilidad en ese registro. Así, el inventario de momentos atrapados por Costantini vacila entre el régimen del encuentro: un color, una luz, un brillo, un movimiento, y la construcción de una regularidad, el espectro de un patrón. De este modo, encontramos un principio de precisión en sus tomas, que necesita de más de una imagen para destilar la cualidad sensible de la escena (de ahí sus dípticos y trípticos que vuelven sobre el mismo fragmento), pero también un principio de abstracción que permite que sus objetos se desconfiguren o desaparezcan detrás de sus formas. Así es posible ver como la flor se desvanece en la serie A flower is not a flower, en la que versiona la ocurrencia de Magritte, ya que bajo el ojo de Costantini cualquier flor no se limita a ser solamente una flor, sino excede esa sustancia para transformarse en un haz de sensaciones dispersas en un tiempo que contiene también su propia desaparición. O la imagen de la nieve, que busca otra vez la posibilidad de reducir la imagen a sus líneas, sus contornos y al blanco, como si la fotografía estuviera en busca de ese momento de claridad.
Esta minuciosidad, este efecto de cercanía, convive con la repetición y la insistencia, como si ese trabajo de individuación estuviera en contacto con el modo general de su movimiento, de una coreografía más amplia e integral. La noción de idiorritmo, que recuperó Roland Barthes, denota esa coexistencia: deriva del vocablo griego idios (particular) y rythmós (ritmo). El ritmo define la relación del sujeto con el mundo, y la tarea del arte es modular su forma, no dejarse atropellar por el vértigo de lo contemporáneo, por partituras ajenas, sino encontrar una frecuencia propia entre la armonía y la resonancia con el exterior. No resulta azaroso, por ello, que Costantini encuentre en la música también un medio de esa relación, donde en las figuras del vacío visual resuena la figura del silencio, así como las texturas musicales no pueden sino estar contagiadas por las texturas de la imagen. En 2019, Edo Costantini fundó The Orpheists, una banda de música en la que él escribe canciones en el piano y luego invita a otros músicos a sumar otros sonidos, texturas. Su primer album SILENCIO, junto al percusionista Mauro Refosco, Gabriel Cabezas en el Cello y Jake Owen en la mezcla y produccion; fusiona instrumentos de música clásica con medios electrónicos. Su primer video, First Snow on KATONAH, lanzado en diciembre de 2022 en la plataforma KOLAPSE, registra la llegada de una de las tormentas de nieve más salvajes de los últimos cien años, a la vera del bosque. La pieza explora las semejanzas entre sonido, imagen y experiencia, como si en cada caso se tratara de una delicada labor de traducción, transmisión y supervivencia. En efecto, la pieza (así como el conjunto de su trabajo) parece estar teñida por el tono y el clima de un responso, fusionando el presente de la ejecución con un pasado profundo, haciendo resonar la ancestralidad cíclica de la naturaleza con la posibilidad de su destrucción. Costantini, naturalista y asceta, fotógrafo y músico, también es viator, un viajero que se recorta del resto, bajo el imperativo de dejar constancia de un mundo que está ahí, que más vale no olvidar porque vive bajo la amenaza de su final, del que se debe dejar huella para que no se olvide.
GALERIA MARIO COHEN
SP-Arte 2022
Booth G17
April 6-10, 2022
Bienal Pavilion in São Paulo
São Paulo, Brazil
RHYTHMS IN NATURE EXHIBITION
Miami, 2021
IN SIGHT
Olsen Gruin Gallery, New York, 2020
Featured drawing, paintings, photography, sculpture works by Alphachanneling, Anna-Wili Highfield, Bo Droga, Delfina Braun, Edo Costantini, Laura Jones, Joseph McGlennon, Juanli Carrión, Leila Jeffreys, Melissa Coote, Ori Carino and Ray Smith. Curated by Alexandra Goldman.