For Trasformazione, ATO Art Takes Over presented works by Italian artist Monica Bonvicini (Venice, 1965) and Israeli artist Ariel Schlesinger (Jerusalem, 1980) in the windows of unused stores at Via della Spiga 48 in Milan, in collaboration with Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan, and Galleria Francesca and Massimo Minini, Milan-Brescia, and with the owners of the commercial spaces.

The artists, albeit in the diversity of practices, were chosen on this occasion for a common reflection on the current global situation and on the theme of transformation.

Monica Bonvicini has dedicated part of her works to the topic of natural disasters. Here, she presented a drawing covering a natural catastrophe as a consequence of human actions such as global warming, From East to West (Bellemont) (2020). The room was then flooded with light with Bent in Shape (2017), a sculpture where the artist employs lights for its powerful ability to define spaces, although light itself is immaterial. Other important subjects of her research such as written language, gender, sexuality, and power were further developed in works such as Satisfy Me (2017), Belts Ball (2015) and Come on Cowboy (2020).

Ariel Schlesinger’s vision on destruction and abandonment are looked upon with a positive eye and turned into construction and creation. His ongoing research focuses on how to turn negative events into positive ones, turning daily products of consumption into rare and surreal objects. Big Oriental carpets and canvases (Senza Titolo,from 2015 and 2016) had been rolled up and burnt over a fire and were then unfurled in the gallery as an early mesmerizing “painting”. While the mirror-breaking of the three sculpture Nice to meet you (2019) showed Schlesinger’s ability to see creative potential in ordinary things and an unprecedent willingness to tap into the world of sculpture without ever losing of the extraordinary effect of surprise.