Studio Longo opens for the first time to the public with a site-specific, relational installation in which Amedeo Longo and Camilla Gurgone invite the visitors to engage in a mocking but poetic challenge.

Kingyo Sukui is a traditional Japanese game usually played during summer festivals and fairs all around the country. Imagine seeing a stall with a big, rectangular tank on it. The tank is bustling with goldfish, swimming frantically and coloring the water with warm tones of yellow and orange. Remember when, as a kid, you wished you could catch one of those fish out of a pond or a fountain with your own hands? The aim of this game is quite similar: wielding a poi, a fragile net made of the thinnest paper, easy to break if wet, the player should try to catch as many fish as possible. Longo and Gurgone offer the public a larger version of Kingyo Sukui by positioning a wide tank filled with fish in the center of the room. Whoever will choose to embark on the challenge will be given a poi and all the time they need to attempt the capture of their Shubunkin fish. If they want to take their prize home, participants will have to learn how to master their own impatience, the element that makes this game so complex.

At the same time, the project promotes a reflection about domestic aquariums and the kitsch fakeness of their decors, that unsuccessfully attempt to simulate the marine environment. Starting from the classic broken amphora, the two artists have created 20 unusual ceramic items that will be available for sale and can be immerged and used as decorations inside one’s own aquarium.

Critic text: Letizia Giardini

Media partner : KHLAB