USE[LESS]

Personal exhibition

USE [LESS] is a personal exhibition set up at the Museo del Presente in Rende (CS) by Costantino Rizzuti, from 27 September to 13 October 2017, during the Geni Comuni collective exhibit, curated by Roberto Sottile.

USE [LESS] explores the concept of "useless" and "unnecessary" in a social context in which everything: objects, products, actions and choices of people seem to always be aimed at optimizing the achievement of a purpose.
As Vilém Flusser states in his book Into the Universe of Technical Images, we normally use this term << in a contemptuous way, with a gesture that sweeps away any discussion [...]. "Useless" means obviously "without purpose". The ancient Greeks knew, however, that "without purpose" is a synonym of "pure". They knew that only when we needlessly rack one's brains for something, we make philosophy >>. With this spirit in mind, the exhibition presents a collection of objects created over the years without any purpose, shaping materials and sounds without a precise intention other than to try to excite and ask questions to users.

The square brackets put into the title USE[LESS] incite to consider also a second interpretation of this English word that arises from the acceptance of the uselessness and the recognition of what is unnecessary: Use Less.
The theme of the reduction of consumption today seems to be, in fact, on the one hand, a fundamental issue for the progress of Humanity and life on the Earth, on the other hand, something voluntarily or unknowingly ignored by most.