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Lot Essay
'Alcohol is a mystic liquid. It is also called 'spirits.' It disinfects, burns, inebriates, it transforms and modifies perception' (Gilberto Zorio, quoted in Arte Povera, C. Christov-Bakargiev (ed.), London 1999, p. 172).
The 'underlying thread' of his art, Zorio asserts, is that of an 'intense energy, in both a physical and a mental sense' (G. Zorio interviewed by Jole de Sanna, Data, vol. 2, Milan, April 1972, pp. 16-23). Making use of a wide variety of materials, his work often encompasses both sculpture, installation, text and performance, and is predominantly characterised by his interest in the notion of the flux and change that lies at the heart of nature and its processes. Zorio is particularly interested in the constant transformative flow of energy from one form to another. His work can in many ways be seen as physical materialisations of this energy flow; materialisations that also invoke the alchemical mystery at the heart of this process and which can be read as metaphors of the creative process itself.
Vulcano per purificare le parole (Volcano to purify the words) is a work that clearly demonstrates this almost mystical notion of the transformation of energy at work within the world. Essentially a practical device which demands the active participation of the viewer, the work is a physical manifestation that uses the 'mystic' liquid of alcohol and the primordial volcanic ash of Stromboli as a means of 'purifying' any words spoken into the small mouthpiece. Based on one of Zorio's most celebrated works from 1969 also entitled, Per purificare le parole, where the viewer was also encouraged to speak into a similar purifying device, this work also mimics the physical form of the volcano that it evokes. Looking to some extent like a giant earth-pipe, the philosophical ideal behind the work is that by travelling through the alcohol and ash, the spoken words will transform, purify and attain a perfect timbre and rhythm. In 1917 Hugo Ball and his fellow Dada poets at the Cabaret Voltaire sought out what they described as the 'inner alchemy of the word.' In this sculpture Zorio has built an impressive metaphorical device that will seemingly deliver this mystic ideal.
The 'underlying thread' of his art, Zorio asserts, is that of an 'intense energy, in both a physical and a mental sense' (G. Zorio interviewed by Jole de Sanna, Data, vol. 2, Milan, April 1972, pp. 16-23). Making use of a wide variety of materials, his work often encompasses both sculpture, installation, text and performance, and is predominantly characterised by his interest in the notion of the flux and change that lies at the heart of nature and its processes. Zorio is particularly interested in the constant transformative flow of energy from one form to another. His work can in many ways be seen as physical materialisations of this energy flow; materialisations that also invoke the alchemical mystery at the heart of this process and which can be read as metaphors of the creative process itself.
Vulcano per purificare le parole (Volcano to purify the words) is a work that clearly demonstrates this almost mystical notion of the transformation of energy at work within the world. Essentially a practical device which demands the active participation of the viewer, the work is a physical manifestation that uses the 'mystic' liquid of alcohol and the primordial volcanic ash of Stromboli as a means of 'purifying' any words spoken into the small mouthpiece. Based on one of Zorio's most celebrated works from 1969 also entitled, Per purificare le parole, where the viewer was also encouraged to speak into a similar purifying device, this work also mimics the physical form of the volcano that it evokes. Looking to some extent like a giant earth-pipe, the philosophical ideal behind the work is that by travelling through the alcohol and ash, the spoken words will transform, purify and attain a perfect timbre and rhythm. In 1917 Hugo Ball and his fellow Dada poets at the Cabaret Voltaire sought out what they described as the 'inner alchemy of the word.' In this sculpture Zorio has built an impressive metaphorical device that will seemingly deliver this mystic ideal.