From 7 to 15 May 2022 the 10th ART CITY took place in Bologna. Born by a collaboration between the municipality of Bologna and Bologna Fiera as accompanying programme of the Arte Fiera (the Bolognese Art Fair), the ART CITY traditionally takes place in January. Due to the pandemic, this year it was postponed to spring. The rich Main Program, directed by Lorenzo Balbi, not only allows various insides into the contemporary artistic production. Moreover, the venues throughout the town are placed in historic sites and /or locations a priori not dedicated to art. This year, the Main Program consisted of nine spots and one Special Project, a Performance by Tino Sehgal at the Piazza Maggiore, the central square of Bologna. Besides these events, many museums, foundations, institutional spaces and art galleries participated with exhibitions and performances. All culminated in the habitual White Night on Saturday 14th May, where the venues stayed open until midnight. Despite the duration of one week plus the extended opening hours, it was – like always – impossible to visit all happenings. Therefore, we point to some exhibitions, which will stay open until June or even longer.
Fondazione Rusconi: The soft parade
Galleria Stefano Forni: Claudio Koporossy – La memoria dell’acqua
P420: Di semplicità e di brivido
Studio Cenacchi: Francesco Bocchini – Testa carbonara
Galleria de’ Foscherari: Luigi Mainolfi – Etna
Galleria Enrico Astuni: Gianni Piacentino – Works 1965 – 2021
The Rooom: Gianluca Chiodi – HEARTH
AF Gallery: Maurizio Arcangeli – ottolettere+
Fondazione MAST: The MAST Collection – A Visual Alphabet of Industry, Work and Technology
Galleria Studio G7: Caterina Morigi | Mariateresa Sartori
Raccolta Lecaro: Cross Collection – Collezioni a confronto
Oratorio di San Filippo Neri: Carlos Garaicoa
The soft parade
6 May – 4 June 2022
Fondazione Rusconi – Arte negli Spazi Temporanei
Via Giuseppe Petroni, 22/A, Bologna
https://fondazionerusconi.com
Under the title “The soft parade”, the curator Marcello Tedesco unites 16 artistic positions. It is a dialogue between national recognised artists and young emerging ones. Like strollers on a vivid street the artworks communicate with each other, sometimes it is a dialogue between two pieces side by side, then one picture from the wall with a sculpture in the centre or even across the room.
Sergia Avveduti, Kengiro Azuma, Valentina D’Accardi, Flavio Favelli, Eva Fischer, Niccolò Morgan Gandolfi, Marina Gasparini, Ester Grossi, Corrado Levi, Yari Miele, Sabrina Muzi, Luigi Ontani, Chiara Pergola, Andrea Renzini, Martina Roberts, Antonio Violetta
Claudio Koporossy – La memoria dell’acqua
14 May – 10 June 2022
Galleria Stefano Forni
Piazza Cavour 2, Bologna
www.galleriastefanoforni.com
Claudio Koporossy’s photos show mysterious worlds. From a distance, they seem to be abstract colour compositions. While approaching, the contemplator sometimes discovers known details. Since the flow of water blurs the shapes, other structures persist unrecognised. Bubbles alienate the objects. Remaining are the bright colours plunged into fresh water. The summer could come!
Di semplicità e di brivido
9 April – 11 June 2022
P420
Via Azzo Gardino 9, Bologna
http://p420.it
For the exhibitions “Di semplicità e di brivido” (Of simplicity and thrill), the gallery P420 invited seven contemporary artist to dialogue with Filippo de Pises’ late works from the 1940s to his death in 1956. The communication might be about colours, forms, content-relations or even by the process artistic creation. This discourse allows insights into the less known oeuvre of the Italian painter and at the same time gives the possibility to discover or rediscover current positions.
Filippo de Pisis in dialogue with Richard Aldrich, Michael Berryhill, Luca Bertolo, Paul Housley, Merlin James, Mairead O’hEocha, Maaike Schoorel
Damien Meade
9 April – 11 June 2022
CAR DRDE
Via Azzo Gardino 14/A, Bologna
www.cardrde.com
Damien Meade creates two-dimensional images with a materiality that invites to be touched. Especially his pink paintings pretend to be a relief. The contemplator might look from different angles, only to find out that the picture in reality is flat.
Francesco Bocchini – Testa carbonara
5 May – 25 June 2022
Studio Cenacchi Arte Contemporaneo
Via Santo Stefano 63, Bologna
www.studiocenacchi.com
Francesco Bocchini creates mysterious, fantastical sculptures and installations. Some are enclosed in aquarium-like glass cabinets; others are installed on the wall. There are bright coloured cakes or an oversized crown of thorns, not to forget the title giving “Testa carbonara”, the Carbonara Head. However, not all the works are only to contemplate, some invite to take action: in turning a crank, they become lively.
Luigi Mainolfi – Etna
26 May – 30 June 2022
Galleria de’ Foscherari
Via Castiglione 2b, Bologna
www.defoscherari.com
The title giving polyptych “Etna” is not a depicting of the eponymous volcano, but conveys the idea of a volcano, even though the black lava is banned in round or rectangle forms. By the brilliant red highlights, the terra cotta seems to pulsate. In contrast to the irregular surface of the polyptych stands the even surface of the sculpture in the middle of the room. Similarly as the works on the wall, the statue transmits the idea of something. However, it is more difficult to capture it. A dolphin? An anteater? Who knows? Whereas the terra cotta spheres seem to be simple and clear: a landscape of perfect forms?
Gianni Piacentino – Works 1965 – 2021
9 April – 30 June 2022
Galleria Enrico Astuni
Via Jacopo Barozzi 3, Bologna
www.galleriaastuni.net
Although the time range of the origin of the artworks on view is wide, there is continuity. Means of transportation might date from 1971 or 2019. Various joint colour panels occurred likewise in 1965 and in 2017. Even though, the shown Trans-Chromes are rather recent, they have in common with the older pieces from the 1960s like the Petroleum-blue Table Sculpture (1967) and the Light Ivory Portal (1966-67) that all radiate a perfection of the execution. This precise achievement creates an oasis of tranquillity, which is transferred to the contemplator.
Gianluca Chiodi – HEARTH
11 May – 30 June 2022
The Rooom
Palazzo Aldrovandi Montanari
Via Galliera 8, Bologna
www.therooom.it
In his artistic approach, Gianluca Chiodi questions about the human being and the relationship to its environment, the planet earth. With multiple exposer, he photographs people during undressing; he stages one or more persons in indeterminable landscapes or he lets nudes float in a black space, confronting them with our planet.
Maurizio Arcangeli – ottolettere+
7 May – 1 July 2022
AF Gallery
Via dei Bersaglieri 5/e, Bologna
www.af-artecontemporanea.it
Since the early 1990s, Maurizio Arcangeli deals with signs. Sometimes there are letters or punctuation characters, most recently also butterflies entered his oeuvre. Even though, he creates images and works with canvas, the pictures are not caught in a rectangle frame. Every single element is a formed canvas and like that leaves the classical form of painting.
Marco Gastini
13 May – 30 July 2022
Otto Gallery
Via d’Azeglio 55, Bologna
www.otto-gallery.it
Opening with a the big bang of the “Grande nero” (Huge Black) from 1982, the Otto Gallery pays tribute to the late Marco Gastini, with whom the gallery collaborated for a long time. In contrast to the “Grande nero” where the ultramarine colour shines brightly, despite the dominance of the black, “Oriens” (1983) appears less confrontational. Surrounded and mixed by with shades, the colour contrast is less strong. Moreover, a horizontal added piece of wood ensures stability. This leaving of the two-dimensional space of the painting culminates in the third huge work: “Nel volo…Roma” (On the Flight…Rome) from 2003. Here the canvas leaves the flat space and protrudes expansive towards the contemplator.
The MAST Collection – A Visual Alphabet of Industry, Work and Technology
10 February — 28 August 2022
Fondazione MAST
Via Speranza 42, Bologna
www.mast.org
The Fondazione MAST shows a huge selection of its mostly photographic collection. On view are pictures from the early time of photography and contemporary positions. Common to all is, the approach to industrial plants and technologic developments and their impact on work, people and environment. Displayed are photos and videos from international renowned artists to anonymous works.
Caterina Morigi | Mariateresa Sartori
28 April – 10 September 2022
Galleria Studio G7
Via Val D’Aposa 4/A, Bologna
www.galleriastudiog7.it
At the Galleria Studio G7 are meeting two artists, who are working at random, even though they predefine the conditions. Caterina Morigi collects various materials, inter alia lava rocks from the Etna. Forming it with stoneware and ceramics, she forms it to Greek vases. By the burning process, the piece casually changes the surface, so the antique form becomes a “cratere” (crater).
In opposition to this three-dimensional work, Mariateresa Sartori works on paper. However, by blowing colour pigments on fresh glue, a relief arises. The result depends from the source of the blow – a passage wind or breath and the composition of the pigments. Sometimes formations occur reminding planets or fossils, others are more like traces from animals.
Cross Collection – Collezioni a confronto
5 May – 18 September 2022
Raccolta Lecaro
Via Riva di Reno 57, Bologna
www.fondazionelercaro.it/raccolta-lercaro
“Cross Collection – Collezioni a confronto” juxtapose works of contemporary young artists from a private collection with works bought since the 1990s and selected ones from the Raccolta Lecaro. Classified in five sections, the body, the portrait, the still life, the language and ethic and social reflections, there are various works from different horizons and in various techniques. It is an interesting glimpse on the contemporary artistic production from Italy, but not only.
Adel Abdessemed, Mario Airo’, Giorgio Andreotta Calo, Stefano Arienti, Francesco Arena, Micol Assaël, Rosa Barba, Vanessa Beecroft, Nïel Beloufa, Monica Bonvicini, Giuseppe Chiari, Mario Dellavedova, Flavio Favelli, Anna Franceschini, Giuseppe Gabellone, Francesco Gennari, Adam Gordon, Esko Männikkö, Eva Marisaldi, Margherita Moscardini, Francis Offman, Giulio Paolini, Sissi, Kiki Smith, Nico Vascellari, Vedovamazzei, Luca Vitone
Carlos Garaicoa
10 – 15 May 2022
Oratorio di San Filippo Neri
Via Manzoni 5, Bologna
by Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna
www.fondazionedelmonte.it
Regretfully, the site-specific installation in the Oratorio di San Filippo Neri by the Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa was on view only for five days. However, it was an impressing experience of space and sound. Hence, a short video for people who were not able to visit the installation or for the ones who like to revive a little bit the atmosphere.