Giovanelli's Blue Chair Installation Confronts Mortality at Galerie des Ponchettes

Jean-Pierre Giovanelli's exhibition at Galerie des Ponchettes in Nice, running from December 20, 2002 to January 12, 2003, centers on a blue chair—an emblem of Nice's urban furniture from the Promenade des Anglais—placed on a sand-covered floor evoking a beach. A screen facing the chair displays a smooth leisure landscape merging sea and greenery. The empty chair suggests absence, while loudspeakers behind the installation produce noise hinting at death. The work references Paul Virilio's text and opens with a quote from Rainer Maria Rilke: "Near death, one no longer sees death and stares fixedly ahead, perhaps an animal gaze." Giovanelli's art, which has referenced architecture for over twenty years, challenges the viewer to confront mortality and seek the relief of things, beings, and events. The exhibition was reviewed by Norbert Hillaire.