Sislej Xhafa combines art with the experience of space through 'Rocket Ship'

Sislej Xhafa's Rocket Ship was also presented during Salone del Mobile.Milano as a part of the group exhibition. The contemporary artist combines art with the experience of space, with the energy of specific locations activated when confronted with his works. He juxtaposes materials, meanings, and forms, often removed from their original context, place and time, in order to create visual power, without it being spectacular. Xhafa believes that identity is subject to continuous mutation— and movement and relocation are therefore essential in the forming of value systems. His works demonstrate this very movement around which identity is constructed. They represent a transition, in its meaning as a change of physical place but also figuratively as a shift in meaning, emotion, and thought. His works are realised in a wide range of media, from sculpture and drawing to performance and photography. Xhafa escapes definite labels and classifications through the complex relationship of his works to a social or historic narrative. Displacement and the ever-changing social mores of our immediate environment are two important themes in his artistic practice.

The exhibition, Costellazioni (Constellations), was curated by Beppe Finessi, and installed by Formafantasma. Twelve exhibition spaces were created along the entire exhibition path of the four Euroluce pavilions, making a widespread installation, made up of different forms brought together by a unitary language, fragments of architecture that hosted designs, photographs, paintings, video installations, single works or families of objects. Each work was accompanied by a critical comment written by a different author—comprising some of the newest and most authoritative contemporary critics. For this project, Formafantasma devised a modular display system made from wood and paper. Despite their different configurations, the structures all featured a repetition of the frame encompassing the paper. The studio’s intention was to come up with a 'light' display system—reusable and suitable for recycling, at the end of its life. The materials are all easily disassembled and the paint had been deliberately eschewed in order to leave the materials and joints visible. The design of the configurations was geared towards providing spaces suitable for showcasing works whilst also creating places where visitors could rest and relax.