Special Specimen

Special Specimen is an intimate video installation where visitors are invited to pause and look closely at a unique specimen of humankind through the lens of a microscope while mindfully observing some of the flaws and strengths that make us human.

The specimen being viewed under the microscope is yourself. In this self-reflective process the separation between the observer and the observed collapses, allowing you to see yourself in an unfamiliar but more intimate way, and ultimately singles you out as a live specimen representative of all humankind.

Special Specimen

by Giuseppe Mario Urso

Bloomsbury Festival 2024

Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London

Conway Hall, London

Conway Hall is operated by Conway Hall Ethical Society.

The Hall is renowned as a hub for free speech and independent thought, for suffragettes, political radicals, scientists, philosophers, artists, performers; campaign, charities and other non-profit organisations.

The Library holds the Ethical Society’s collection, which is the largest and most comprehensive Humanist and ethics related research resource of its kind in the United Kingdom.

A Room of One’s Own

A Room of One’s Own intertwines space and emotion to create a private place where you can observe the reality from a different point of view.

Inspired by the concept of “liminal space” developed by the anthropologist Arnold van Gennep, the installation functions as an unconventional device to unlock all the restraints accumulated during the lockdown.

A liminal space is a transitional place between spaces – a now between before and after.

People crave for predictability in their life, but in a liminal space - like in Urso’s work - any predictability is denied.

From the outside the room appears to be a tiny cube, but when inside the installation expands and extends the space beyond its claustrophobic walls.

An immersive video experience that turns this enclosed space into a bird hide which then reveals the outside world to the watchers.

Bloomsbury Festival 2023 - St Pancras New Church

A Lump in the Throat

An audio installation in four languages (English, German, French, and Italian) that aims to create an intimate place where you can wander, pause, and listen to Orpheus wailing in despair at Eurydice’s death.

Orpheus descended to the underworld to rescue his wife from the realm of the dead, but his attempt failed, and Eurydice was condemned to the underworld forever.

A Lump in the Throat functions as a memorial for the Coronavirus victims all over the world, but also acknowledges the millions of people who have recovered from the illness, some of them coming back from an induced coma. Fortunately, and unlike Eurydice in the Greek myth, they are able to breathe again and perhaps, hearing Orpheus’ lament, they might come to terms with their own trauma, and join the singer Anastasia Jones in her performance.

The aria Che farò senza Euridice? from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice is played by the St Paul’s Girls’ School Chamber Orchestra and conducted by Leigh O’Hara.

A Lump in the Throat - Bloomsbury Festival 2022 - St George’s Bloomsbury, London

https://saltertonartsreview.com/2022/10/bloomsbury-festival-2022/

Adam & Eve at St John on Bethnal Green

Life and death are intrinsically embedded in Adam & Eve, an unﬁnished installation hanging over Sir John Soane’s window.

Inspired by an uncompleted engraving by Albrecht Dürer, I outlined his ﬁgures on the tracing paper. Then I worked on the background, ﬁlling the space with hundreds of white skulls, leaving out only the silhouettes of the young couple.

Although invisible, the couple was defined by a semi-transparent background filled with thousands of human skulls, while the snake was lurking around, waiting.

Finally, I placed the ghostly tableau over the window, and then suddenly the tracing paper was struck by sunlight and the ﬁgures of Adam and Eve glowed - my unﬁnished creation was completed.

Last Sunset ~ New Sunrise - St John on Bethnal Green, London