Anila Rubiku – The sixteen pleasures

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The sixteen pleasures
Anila Rubiku
16 January – 23 March 2023
Ncontemporary Milan

Ncontemporary is pleased to present The sixteen pleasures, first solo show of the artist Anila Rubiku (Albania, 1970) at the gallery. The exhibition brings together the works that compose Urban Pornitecture, a project realized in 2008 in which drawing and embroidery combine explicitly sexual and pornographic images with road maps and iconic architectural symbols.

The work takes inspiration from a series of sonnets composed between 1524 and 1525 by Pietro Aretino, written to illustrate the sixteen engravings, I modi (or The sixteen pleasures), by Marcantonio Raimondi. The engravings represent a Renaissance and Italian version of the Kama Sutra. Urban Pornitecture, in response, depicts sixteen maps of some of the world's major capitals, including Bangkok, Manila, Los Angeles, Seoul, combined with images of sexually explicit scenes. The pornographic image is in fact seen under the demographic lens: the sexual act as a means of procreation inserted in the urban dimension.

Sexuality in this case is not understood as a mere carnal relationship between two bodies, but metaphorically linked to the architecture and urban planning of the cities. Love is consumed inside every single home, where hidden we grant ourselves unspeakable freedoms.

The technique also tells us something about the relationship between body (of the work) and structure. Embroidery on paper is in fact a definitive, irreparable gesture. The needle passes through the paper, piercing it irreparably, making it impossible to erase or hide. The deed becomes metaphorical in this case.