Transcending the Ruins of the Urban Edge
Pietralata, Rome, 28 June 2012 — SUPERAZIONE marks the origin of Gio Montez’s performative anthology Manifeste Azioni—a powerful gesture of transcendence set in the historic outskirts of Rome’s Pietralata district, where the artist reclaims an abandoned urban ruin through a performative action. The Atelier Montez has been officially founded during this symbolic and propitiatory action. The new creative space rises from a industrial wreck that had been abandoned after a fire, reclaiming the space for art praxis through a visionary project of partecipative urban regeneration led by artist Gio Montez, photographer Giacomo Capogrossi and architect Francesco Perri.
Superazione neologism derived from “overcoming”: s. m. [der. to overcome]
– 1. The action, the fact, the effect of overcoming: s. of an opponent, in a cycling race, etc.; the s is prohibited. of a vehicle turning; s. of a difficulty, an obstacle, a danger, a crisis, an illness; s. of old conceptions, ideas, doctrines, beliefs; the s. of a political formula now exhausted.
– 2. In philosophy, the term used to translate the concept expressed by Hegel with the verb aufheben, i.e. the «remove», but at the same time the «preserve», which each category implements as it takes the place of the category that ideally precedes it, eliminating it in its limitedness and preserving it for all that is truth in it; the overcoming thus presents itself as the most characteristic event of dialectics, as its specific form of manifestation.
This action transforms the abandoned space into a dynamic factory for contemporary art, designed to support both productive creation and receptive exhibitions. The Montez team intentionally chose an industrial building for its ideal combination of functionality and modern character, which aligns perfectly with current European artistic and cultural trends, marking a new chapter for contemporary culture in Rome’s evolving creative landscape.
Start after the beginning.
Finding yourself doing and knowing you don’t know.
Overcoming the metaphysical limbo between life and death.
Finding yourself overwhelmed by your own motion, moving to discover that you are standing.
Realising that you are doing something without ever having started and without knowing how or when it will end: living.
(Gio Montez)
Azione n°0 – Superazione
28/06/2012, Roma
Director: Gio Montez
Actors: Gio Montez, Graziano Cecchini
Camera: Giacomo Capogrossi
Video: Stefania Giacomini
