Elisabetta Benassi hits the bricks at Max Mara

When in 1976 the Tate Gallery purchased a minimalist work by Carl Andre consisting of two rows of bricks forming a rectangular shape (for the modest sum of £2,297), all hell broke loose in the British media. “What a load of rubbish”, wrote one newspaper. “Bricks are for homes!” exclaimed another. This typical scandal about “wasting public money in the middle of an economic crisis” has always fascinated Italian artist Elisabetta Benassi, known for her installations, sculptures, and images that result from thorough research and a desire to reactivate historical events.

UK newspaper headlines recur in different forms and shapes throughout her solo show at Collezione Maramotti, fashion brand Max Mara’s art centre, alongside various constellations of bricks. The indignation of the press is heard in an audio piece, positioned next to a bunch of posters with angry headlines suspended from support structures. But the works can also be seen on buses driving through Reggio Emilia, a way of bringing the debate back to the public domain instead of restricting it to the confined white cube. “The issues addressed in the work are not only about the art world but about reality in general”, Benassi says. “These are real problems and questions about the relationship between art, politics, and life.”

The timing of the show could not be better, the headlines echoing the tabloids’ anger toward the establishment and the elites. Is the work referring to Brexit? “No, but it resonates with certain of today’s issues. It also refers to the current housing and gentrification problems in London.” The history of the former Max Mara factory in which Collezione Maramotti is housed, is also embedded in the show by means of leftover pieces of fabric that form an abstract installation, or in the carpets that feature in the brand’s Italian boutiques that are combined here with a brick structure. The first piece in the presentation is a transformed knitting machine that belongs to Max Mara. “This work deals with the notion of labour and of mechanisation and automation. But it also creates steam and scent, which almost gives it a human touch.” So the machine produces hot air, just like the artwork, according to its detractors? “I hadn’t seen it that way. Vendere l’aria! Selling air. Not bad!” (laughs)

Elisabetta Benassi’s exhibition, It starts with the firing, is on until 17 September 2017 at Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, Italy.