"If only I could go back..."
"I wish it never happened..."
In this set of works, Camilla Gurgone copes with the impossibility to erase the memories that cause us pain from our minds.
The artist envisions a parallel universe where our memories are automatically printed on rolls of thermal paper. Determined to emulate that reality, she starts printing detailed personal diaries on such material, which has the peculiarity to fade with time or heat. In those diaries, she recounts episodes of her daily life through words and pictures.
In an ironic tutorial, she then shows the public how easy it is to fade, and thus eliminate, inconvenient memories from thermal paper. The biographical traces are erased with heat-producing tools, particularly electrical appliances: these devices take on the role of memory erasers, capable of carrying out a cache cleaning of the memories that the artist does not want to preserve. Through hotplates, cookers and irons we hope to control the uncontrollable: time, pain, unpleasant episodes that fate has in store for us and the fear of making mistakes.
The artist launches these erasing devices into collections, presenting them in scenic installations, advertising them with posters, presentation brochures and video tutorials.
In 2019, the collection Easy and effective! Home edition was released.
Campigaz 206s, 2019.
Thermal paper, gas oven, glass, synthetic grass.
Variable size, in the picture: 25x500x140 cm.
Installation view Zawp Space, Bilbao.
Campigaz basecamp, 2020.
Thermal paper, gas oven, camping table, synthetic grass.
Variable size, in the picture: 180x110x100 cm.
Installation view Zawp Space, Bilbao.
Tripod boil&grill, 2020.
Thermal paper, camping pan and tripod, coal, stones, cutting board,
thermometer, synthetic grass.
Variable size, in the picture: 70x100x100 cm.
Installation view Zawp Space, Bilbao.
Uten barbecue, 2020.
Thermal paper, barbecue, camping chair, coal, various utensils,
synthetic grass.
Variable size, in the picture: 200x70x110 cm.
Installation view Zawp Space, Bilbao.
Easy and effective! Camping edition poster n.01/n.02, 2020.
Screen print on paper.
70x100 cm.
Easy and effective! Camping edition poster n.03/n.04/n.05, 2020.
Screen print on paper.
15x21 cm.
