Am Ende bleibt nur Ärger
2023
Melted bronze horse figurines

Nicola Bizzarri's project Am Ende bleibt nur Ärger (In the end remains only anger) examines the origins of public monuments and profane, decorative artifacts in a shared cultural heritage. It questions not only the formative properties of the past, but also its significance for collective and individual self understanding. History in this sense explains the present and provides the possibility for a shared (re) narration of identity.

For the istallation, which is composed of three works with a common subject, he resorts to conventional objects in the visual language and seeks to engage with culture through them. Even contemporary artifacts draw on historical ornamentation, through which in the ancient original claims of power or domination have often been asserted. For example, on a terracotta vessel Nicola tells the story of a bronze statue of Pope Julius II that was melted into a cannon after his deposition, and how some two hundred years later an equestrian statue of Mussolini was made from Austrian cannons.
The reception of culture and appropriation by different contexts, while changing the interpretation of a symbol, refers to a shared origin in history and cultural heritage. By melting down profane horse figurines, Nicola Bizzarri points to the interplay between form and its given meaning. By depriving bronze of its meaningful form, the cultural (re) telling is the only thing that remains of its history.


Text by Kai Schweizer (translated from german)