studio nucleo melds dramatic concrete blocks with antique furniture

torino-based art collective nucleo presents an unprecedented solo show — based on the application of boolean operators on sculptural forms — that tests the physical and perceptual limits of metals, epoxy resins, majolica, and construction materials, embedded with repurposed items and antique furnishings. the title ‘the law of past experience’ is a reference to one of the best-known principles of gestalt (das gesetz der erfahrung, ‘the law of experience’), applied three-dimensionally at an algebraic level, an operation that determines the appearance of time delays, projected onto sections of surfaces and diametrically-opposed materials.

‘boolean’ and (chair), 2017 nucleo_piergiorgio robino + marzia ricci concrete,
vintage furniture 61 x 49 x 95h cm unique piece in an edition 1+1

the law of past experience asserts that when faced with a multiplicity of elements in the field of view, the gaze selects and shapes a very precise interpretation of reality on the basis of its own working mechanisms. this rule defines how, all other things being equal, the elements of the field of view, which give rise to a familiar or meaningful figure, lead, at an unconscious level, to form a separate entity, creating a representation beyond the realm of reality. reinvoking wertheimer’s theories, nucleo divides up the perceptual field, which also occurs according to the memory pathways of each individual past, in order to encourage the imagined completion of objects which remain familiar.

‘boolean’ and (chair), 2017 nucleo_piergiorgio robino + marzia ricci concrete,
vintage furniture 61 x 49 x 95h cm unique piece in an edition 1+1

previously known objects are capable of begetting their opposites, with respect to surface form or everyday use. after having selected some of the furnishings that formed the interior of the 1940’s apartment – the decade of the last generation of the futurists to have known and collaborated with filippo tommaso marinetti – the turin collective shows and hides time delays in solid form. about fifty works of different size are exhibited on the ground and basement floors of FuturDome.

‘boolean’ and (table), 2017 nucleo_piergiorgio robino + marzia ricci concrete,
vintage furniture 204 x 142 x 80h cm unique piece

in between the root-wood furniture worn thin like high relief, neutralised antique dishes, old postcards embossed with sculptural polygons, kaleidoscopic rear-view mirrors and de-signified votive masks, nucleo has also conceived a reticular installation that will commandeer an entire basement room. here, the red lines of the laser will trace the imperceptible memory of an industrial process which, as it transforms unique artefacts, induces a continual state of the adding and subtracting of matter. each element of ‘the law of past experience’ is transformed through variables that can only assume values of either true or false, present or past, shape or abstraction – truth values that make the logic of the disappearance of things the result of sculptural operations of coupling, and of temporal uncoupling.

‘boolean’ and (table), 2017 nucleo_piergiorgio robino + marzia ricci concrete,
vintage furniture 204 x 142 x 80h cm unique piece

‘boolean’ and (table), 2017 nucleo_piergiorgio robino + marzia ricci concrete,
vintage furniture 204 x 142 x 80h cm unique piece

‘boolean’ not (troumeau), 2017 nucleo_piergiorgio robino + marzia ricci,
cut vintage furniture 176 x 27 x 100h cm unique piece in an edition 1+1

‘boolean’ not (troumeau), 2017 nucleo_piergiorgio robino + marzia ricci,
cut vintage furniture 176 x 27 x 100h cm unique piece in an edition 1+1

‘boolean’ and (cabinet), 2017 nucleo_piergiorgio robino + marzia ricci concrete,
vintage furniture 72 x 80 x 218h cm unique piece in an edition 1+1

‘boolean’ and (cabinet), 2017 nucleo_piergiorgio robino + marzia ricci concrete,
vintage furniture 72 x 80 x 218h cm unique piece in an edition 1+1

‘boolean’ and (cabinet), 2017 nucleo_piergiorgio robino + marzia ricci concrete,
vintage furniture 72 x 80 x 218h cm unique piece in an edition 1+1

‘boolean’ and (footboard), 2017 nucleo_piergiorgio robino + marzia ricci concrete,
vintage furniture 220 x 40 x 83h cm unique piece

‘boolean’ and (footboard), 2017 nucleo_piergiorgio robino + marzia ricci concrete,
vintage furniture 220 x 40 x 83h cm unique piece

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lynn chaya | designboom