Elements of Beauty: A tea set is never only a tea set

Carla Zaccagnini

Elements of Beauty: a tea set is never only a tea set, 2014. Installation view at Malmö Konstmuseum
Image courtesy of the City of Malmö
Elements of Beauty: a tea set is never only a tea set, 2014 
Wall-painting, audio-guide​​​​​​​
Dimensions variable
Elements of Beauty is the general title of a series of works deriving from a research conducted by the artist between 2010 and 2018. The project focus on the actions perpetrated (or performed) by a group of militants for women’s votes, taking place inside museums and art galleries, in Britain, between April 2nd, 1913 and July 17th, 1914. The first result of this research was a book, which collects press clippings, documents from museums archives, photographs of the Suffragettes taken by the Scotland Yard and reproductions of the attacked artefacts, when available. 
Elements of Beauty: a tea set is never only a tea set is an installation in which an abstract wall painting depicts the areas that the assaulted pieces would have occupied, while an audio-guide addresses different issues related to these actions: the roles of women in British society at that time; the press reports of the actions and trials; the declarations the militants wrote or state in court; readings of the attacked paintings and narrations of the myths they represent; etc. 
A tea set is never only a tea set, 2014 ​​​​​​​. Excerpt from the audio guide, version in Swedish
Installation view at Firstsite, Colchester, England, 2015. 

Installation view at Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo, 2015


A tea set is never only a tea set, 2014 ​​​​​​​. Excerpt from the audio guide, version in English

Installation view at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2014

This work has been previously exhibited at:
A Voice of One's Own, On Women's Fight for Suffrage and Human Recognition, Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmo, Suécia. 2014.
Really Useful Knowledge, MNCA Reina Sofía, Madrid Spain, 2014-2015
Carla Zaccagnini - Elements of Beauty, Firstsite Lewis Garden, Colchester, England, 2015.
Histórico: Carla Zaccagnini & Runo Lagomarsino, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden. 2015
Elements of Beauty: a tea set is never only a tea set, Van Abbemuseum Museum, Eindhoven, Holanda. 2015
Elementos de Beleza: um jogo de chá nunca é apenas um jogo de chá, Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), São Paulo, Brasil. 2015-2016
Carla Zaccagnini: Elementos de belleza: un juego de té nunca es sólo un juego de té. Ladera Oeste, Guadalajara, México. 2018
Out of Words. Röda Sten Konsthall, Göteborg, Sweden. 2018 
Ancient History of the Distant Future. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2019.
Shown installed at Ladera Oeste, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2018. 
Image courtesy of Ladera Oeste and Terremoto.
Read about the artist's research for this work here.

Elements of Beauty: a tea set is never only a tea set, 2014

Installation view at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2019

Carla Zaccagnini
Elements of Beauty: a tea set is never only a tea set
2014 
Wall-painting and audio-guide
Status:
Edition 1/3 - Malmö Konstmuseum
Edition 2/3 - Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Assis Chateaubriand
Edition 3/3 – Available