Augeo Art Space is a new center for contemporary art in the heart of Rimini (Italy), a city that is mainly known for its beach and tourism, but also for its ancient Roman and Renaissance monuments. Augeo invited the Miami-based artist duo Guerra de la Paz to a residency in the area, and to produce a site-specific work for the art space that has its home in a converted seventeenth century mansion, Palazzo Spina on Corso d’Augusto, the main street in the city. In this video, we have a look at the exhibition, while Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz provide us with an introduction to their latest work, and Augeo’s director, Matteo Sormani, talks about the mission of the art space. The exhibition runs until June 8, 2014.

Guerra de la Paz at Augeo Art Space, Rimini. Interview with Guerra de la Paz and the director of Augeo Art Space, Matteo Sormani. Rimini, Italy, April 16, 2014.

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Alain Guerra:

“…before that we thought Rimini was just beaches but we’ve noticed that it has very rich vibrant history, and that was very inspirational to us and that was kind of the starting point for us and the catalyst for everything that came after that.”

Neraldo de la Paz:

…“we saw the Roman walls, which we were very stimulated by, we saw some statuary, which we really liked, but the artifacts, we didn’t realize that where we were staying, in Santarcangelo, it was a Roman hub for pottery, and we started with the pottery just thinking here we have these materials and we need to make artifacts because the whole concept the exhibition was to kind of create an archaeological site…. We developed some new techniques and introduced new new mediums into the clothing. Usually we work with clothing loosely, and now we are compacting it and forming it into different shapes and you have everything from the geometry of the columns to a more amorphic quality in the sculptures….”

Photo set on Flickr: