Cosetta takes the form of a solo presentation by Beatrice Bonino. The works are an excellent hint to reflect on the concept of intrinsic value, meant as rarity, monetary value, preciousness; we are used to considering as precious material something which is difficult to find, and highly requested by the market, but in this case we are faced to an atypical case. The artist's selection criteria, however personal, cannot be likened to the shared concept of preciousness; it generates a new aesthetic category. The materials chosen from so many seemingly similar ones, now look the rarest to us. The element of arbitrariness, acting through inscrutable principles of choice, becomes a foundational quality of composition, that sheet of paper among a hundred, that plastic among a thousand. Pieces that might appear to be born as addition are, in our opinion, born by subtraction, the more precise the appropriation, the greater the mass of the unchosen. Once we have the measure of the care of every choice, we can understand how equally accurate the composition. Preserving the identity characteristics of inanimate objects is no simple matter; it seems to us that a fruitful form of collaboration has been established between the artist and her things. You should seize the opportunity. –MMXX

The first iteration of Beatrice Bonino’s Cosetta was presented at MMXX, Milan, an artist-run space located in Milan, founded by Emanuele Marcuccio and Daniele Milvio in 2020.

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Image credits: Beatrice Bonino, Cosetta, Bonner Kunstverein, 2024, installation view. Photo: Mareike Tocha.