HFBK

In the exhibition Smells Like Headlines, Fabio Prosdocimi directs the viewer’s attention to aspects of the urban landscape that often remain unnoticed within the rhythms of everyday life. Working with large-scale textile wall and floor objects, the artist constructs collages and sculptures from heavy-duty construction fabrics which, reminiscent of low-poly 3D models simulate familiar urban vegetation – trees, bushes, and shrubbery. Installed throughout the exhibition space, these forms create the atmosphere of an artificial greenhouse situated right in the heart of the bustling city: an oasis carved out in an environment where little nature finds room to unfold.

Prosdocimi’s interest in such aspects of urban planning is shaped by an intimate, everyday perspective. As the owner of two dogs, he approaches green urban zones less as decorative or ecological elements, and more like sites of communication and exchange. The title, “Smells Like Headlines”, refers to this: bushes and trees function as social interfaces where information is spread through scent, where sniffing and marking work the same way as headlines in newspapers – getting updated about what’s happening in the neighbourhood. Urban vegetation transforms into a network of organic “chat rooms,” revealing an alternative communicative layer, one that escapes the human perception.