Media Facade - Point and Counterpoint, Cioni Carpi

This is Point and Counterpoint, the film made by the artist Cioni Carpi (Milan 1923 – 2011) in 1960 that is being screened by Museion on its media façade, as part of the exhibition “Intermedia. Archivio di Nuova Scrittura”. In view of its forthcoming reopening, the museum is making its physical presence felt in the surrounding urban space for the first time. In this sense, Museion’s large transparent surface will become a fascinating interface between the museum and the city on which to launch a strong and intangible signal, through light.

“Point and Counterpoint” is the first film made in 16 mm in which the artist Cioni Carpi acted directly on the film. The abstract film with its rapid rhythm, shows the dynamics of movement between a single point and a mass of lines, that can also be interpreted as the relationship between an individual and a community or society. Son of the Milanese painter Aldo Carpi, and brother of musician and author siblings, Cioni Carpi worked for French television and in Canada he began dabbling with film. Animation was the most natural step forward from painting that Cioni had learnt from his father and he continued with this art form up until the early 1960s. His animated film period and his stay in Canada were influenced by Norman McLaren, a Scottish Canadian director who was an important figure in both the early years of the Canadian National Film Board and the development of animated film.

In the Archivio di Nuova Scrittura (New Writing Archive), Museion conserves various works by Cioni Carpi that date from the second half of the 1970s. These are graphic works and paintings in which the artist uses text – often from literature – and photographs of landscapes he had visited himself. These photographs have generally been elaborated by the artist as if he wanted to extend them into the realm of the canvas and sketchbook, thereby creating a new relationship between the individual and the landscape.

The Cineteca di Milano has beautifully restored Carpi’s films and is now responsible for distributing them. The Cineteca Director, Matteo Pavesi will talk about Carpi’s art, his various productions and his ties to the world of cinema in a conversation with Frida Carazzato next Wednesday (20/05) at 6pm livestreamed on the Zoom platform. The Cineteca will also present a short montage of a range of Carpi’s films to demonstrate the range of his production.

Special thanks to the Fondazione Cineteca di Milano. Save the date: Wednesday 20th May at 6pm a conversation about the art of Cioni Carpi between the Director of the Milan Cineteca, Matteo Pavesi and Frida Carazzato (Museion) livestreamed on Zoom.