Agile-Fragile

Materials · Red frames · Glass · Kraft paper · Fragile tape

In Case of Emergency

Wrapped paper hearts sealed behind glass, like votive offerings. One instruction only: break the glass in case of emergency.

Four red frames on a black ground, each holding a kraft paper heart wrapped in fragile tape under the words in case of emergency break glass, beside a golden cage.

A heart under glass

Around each Madonna, the artist places wrapped hearts. They are made of kraft paper, crumpled and bound in the adhesive tape used for delicate parcels, with the word fragile printed again and again. Each heart is sealed in a red frame, behind glass.

The glass carries a single instruction: in case of emergency, break the glass. Below it, in smaller letters: if you are ready to open your heart to love again.

Contemporary votive offerings

The frames recall ex-votos, the objects that for centuries have been left beside sacred images to ask for a grace or to give thanks for one received. Here the offering is the heart itself, protected and imprisoned at once.

Arranged around the figure, the frames form a constellation of waiting. Each one tells of a heart put away for safety after a wound, waiting for the right moment to open again.

Waiting and fragility

The work reflects on waiting. How long do we keep the heart under glass? What is the emergency that finally convinces us to break the protection?

The tone is ironic and light, like a safety sign, but the question is serious. Protecting what is fragile is necessary. Keeping it locked away forever means never living it.

The red

The red of the frames is the red of fire extinguishers and alarm buttons. It is a colour that signals, that asks for attention, and that calls for a gesture. It is also the colour of the heart and the mark of the whole Agile-Fragile project.

A white wall covered with red frames holding wrapped hearts, next to a paper Madonna.
The frames around the Madonna, like votive offerings.
The Madonna in her white niche, with red frames arranged at her feet.
The hearts at the feet of the figure.
The artist in a red jacket and a Human Being T-shirt in front of the wall of red frames.
The artist with the waiting hearts.

In case of emergency, break the glass, if you are ready to open your heart to love again.