Marsèll presents Transmitter / Receiver, a project by Carsten Nicolai

Studying the universe means studying chance. Refining the senses for chaos, for light, for particles.

Can any visual poetry open a gateway to the unknown? Can a dimension that otherwise remains inaccessible to our senses be made tangible? And how can a sculpture make visible what is not visible – and show various facets of the perceptible world?

www.instagram.com/carsten.nicolai
www.instagram.com/marsell.official
www.instagram.com/mattiabalsamini

Transmitter / Receiver, as part of the Spring Summer 23 collection, is on view Mon–Fri 10 AM–1 PM and 2–6 PM at @marsell.paradise until May 12th, 2023.⁠
⁠Installation views @lorenzo.capelli

Starting from questions like these and as a way of exploring uncertainties in art and science, Marsèll presents the installation Transmitter / Receiver by German artist Carsten Nicolai, as part of the Spring Summer 23 collection at Marsèll Paradise in Milan, from 15 April 2023 during Milan Art Week.
The Marsèll SS23 collection examines light and the delicate colours of the summer horizon. For this very reason, Marsèll has deliberately chosen to collaborate with an artist whose sensitive research explores the interface between science and art and uses the aesthetic richness of the universe as a primary source of inspiration.

Carsten Nicolai’s (*1965 in Karl-Marx-Stadt) site-specific installation functions as a multi-sensory seismograph, investigating the visual and material properties of the universe. Optical phenomena such as particles, light and colours are of central interest, as is chance.
The work Transmitter / Receiver was originally produced for Haus der Kunst Munich. The sculpture (“the machine”) is controlled by a Geiger counter, a device for measuring radioactivity. The counter detects terrestrial and extra-terrestrial radioactive particles (cosmic noise) and sends a corresponding electrical pulse to the “machine”, which modulates the pulse. The Geiger counter is mounted directly on the roof of Marsèll Paradise.

Nicolai, as a scientific artist-researcher, activates his installation which in turn uses its receivers to detect the smallest particles in the universe. The “machine”, as the main medium, translates those particles into sound, light and visual worlds for us to experience.

Particularly relevant to Nicolai’s work is the exploration of chaos and chance, two of the key phenomena of the universe. It sensitises the viewers’ perceptions and allows them to witness patterns, sounds, and an abstract, cosmic “language”. Synaesthetic codes that harmonise with the Marsèll SS23 palette. A collection inspired by the beauty and random nature of light and how it coincidentally happens to reflect onto our earth.

Art and culture can inspire thought and creativity in endless ways, open up new perspectives and possibilities and often give new stimuli even in strictly regulated economically closed systems. Through collaboration with Nicolai in 2023, Marsèll continues its active support of artists and creatives, their visions and reflections to honour the utmost freedom of expression in its authenticity.

CARSTEN NICOLAI (b. 1965 in Karl-Marx-Stadt, today Chemnitz) lives and works in Berlin. Inspired by scientific reference systems, Nicolai explores mathematical patterns such as grids and codes, error and random structures, as well as the phenomenon of self-organization. In doing so, he continually breaks down the boundaries between various artistic genres. After his participation in Documenta X (1997) and the 49th and 50th Venice Biennales (2001 and 2003), his works have been presented in national and international exhibitions in renowned museums and galleries.

Comprehensive solo exhibitions have taken place at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt am Main (anti-reflex, 2005), the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin (syn chron, 2005), the CAC, Vilnius, Lithuania (pioneer, 2011), the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz (uni tape, 2015), Berlinische Galerie (tele, 2018) and now upcoming at K21 Düsseldorf (parallax symmetry, 2019). Carsten Nicolai’s works are included in important private and public collections. He is currently represented by Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/ Berlin, Pace Gallery, Ibid Gallery London/Los Angeles, and Galleria Lorcan O’Neill Roma. Nicolai has received numerous awards and grants, among them: Giga Hertz Prize (2012, with Ryoji Ikeda); Villa Massimo, Rome (2007); Zurich Art Prize (2007); Villa Aurora, Los Angeles (2003); Prix Ars Electronica (2000 and 2001, with Marko Peljhan); Grand Prize Japan Media Arts Festival (2014).

MATTIA BALSAMINI moves to Los Angeles in 2008, where he begins his studies at the Brooks Institute of California with a concentration in advertising photography. In 2010 he started working at David LaChapelle’s studio as a studio assistant and archivist. In 2011, after obtaining a BA with honourable mention, he returns to Italy. Since then, he has been teaching photography at IUAV University of Venice as well as photographing extensively technology and its sociological implications – focusing his attention on work as a factor of the identity of the man. Over the years he has carried out personal and editorial projects for institutions such as MIT, NASA and the Institute Of Forensic Medicine at the University of Zurich. His images reveal an interest in people and their stories, the functional aspects of technology and the graphic elements of the ordinary. He has been exhibited at the Milan Triennale, MAXXI, Sandretto ReRebaudengo Foundation, and the Italian Cultural Institute in San Francisco. He is currently represented by the photo agency Contrasto.

MARSÈLL. Founded in 2001 near Venice, in an area world-renowned for the production of luxury footwear, Marsèll is a company built around a cultural model. Known for its genderless, limited-edition leather products for everyday use, Marsèll goes beyond the idea of the brand, establishing itself as a project dedicated to the study and exploration of form, in every sense of the word.