Concept: Alberto Maggini
Choreography and performance: Sophie Claire Annen and Vittoria Caneva
Costume design: Giulia Cauti
Sound design: Sebastian Kurtén
Video and editing: Stefano Chiodini and Alessandro Morelli
Site-specific performance created for Alberto Maggini’s project presentation at the Botanical Garden of Rome, 2024.
Project supported by the Italian Council (2023), Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity, Italian Ministry of Culture.
In this project, Maggini presents his research developed between Rome and Athens. The artist connects the ornaments of Mycenaean funerary masks (found in the Archaeological Museum of Athens) with the beauty products from our daily beauty routine (e.g., moisturizing face masks, beauty creams, perfume bottles, false eyelashes, foods with beneficial properties) collected in second-hand markets. Maggini focuses on the waste from beauty products to advance the Art-Waste parallel. By doing so, he imparts a new meaning to the waste of the capitalist-patriarchal system, moving towards a more inclusive approach where what has been discarded takes central stage and becomes a work of art. From this research, ADORE was born—a fictional fashion and beauty magazine, where Maggini embodied the roles of editor, advertiser, muse, and model. The magazine was presented to the public during a performance at the Botanical Garden of Rome, and the working materials were showcased in an exhibition in Athens. ADORE serves as both an artist’s magazine/book and an exhibition catalog, with each individual photo from the advertisements being a standalone work of art.
