This presentation marks the gallery’s second exhibition in its new space in Arezzo. It introduces a new project by artist Alisa Yoffe (born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, in 1987, lives and works in Paris), whose practice explores the passage of images from private digital touch to public physical presence. Each work begins as a quick gesture on an iPhone. This initial trace is intimate and almost secret. It appears for a brief moment before entering the field of recognition and judgment. Once transferred into physical form, the digital gesture reveals the emotional and philosophical structures that shape our experience of visibility and desire.
The project draws inspiration from the thought of Walter Benjamin, whose studies on reproduction and presence are essential for understanding the life of images today. Benjamin observed how modern technology alters the aura of the artwork by transforming the way it is perceived. Yoffe begins within the world of digital repetition, where images circulate without limits and without duration. She then reverses this condition, giving the gesture a body, a surface, a weight. Through this process, the gesture regains a form of aura that resists instant disappearance. The physical artwork becomes a reconstruction of presence within a culture defined by continuous circulation.
The project also engages with the thought of Jean-Paul Sartre, who described the formation of the self through the gaze of the other. Sartre emphasized that meaning is born through recognition. In the digital age, this gaze manifests itself through likes and hearts. These small signs act as confirmations that shape our sense of self. Yoffe focuses on the moment just before this confirmation occurs. Her works reveal the tension between the pure gesture and the expectation of approval. The viewer becomes aware of the fragile moment in which meaning is still uncertain and open.
This philosophical dialogue expands through a reference to the practice of Thomas Hirschhorn, known for creating spaces of collective reflection. Hirschhorn builds environments in which ideas become active and visible. In a different way, Yoffe constructs spaces where even the smallest digital gesture becomes a point of reflection. Her work introduces a contemplative environment where the viewer can consider the emotional systems produced by digital communication. The work is quiet yet intense. It invites concentration in a world that encourages speed.
The presentation invites viewers to reflect on their own relationships with visibility, recognition, and digital presence. Do our gestures seek true expression, or merely approval? Does the image belong to us, or do we begin to belong to the image? By transforming small digital movements into material forms, the project offers a space in which these questions can be explored with clarity and without judgment.
Throughout her artistic career, Alisa Yoffe has developed an internationally recognized practice, exhibiting in leading galleries and institutions across Europe and beyond. She was highlighted by Forbes as one of the most significant emerging young artists, and her participation in the group exhibition at König Galerie in Berlin stands as a major milestone in her professional trajectory. Her works have been featured in numerous solo and group shows in Italy, France, and Germany, and through digital drawing, painting, and installation, Yoffe continues to explore the relationship between image, presence, and perception with an increasingly distinctive visual language.