October 15, 2021 – October 19, 2021
Artists: Simona Andrioletti, Sofia Borelli, Elisa Caldana, Daniela Comani, Inhabitants, Rebecca Moccia, Regina José Galindo, Michal Martychowiec, belit sağ, Santiago Sierra, Diego Tonus, Chiara Ventura, Amir Yatziv
BLAST aesthetics of violence between image, video and document is an exhibition, conceived and curated by Jessica Bianchera and Marta Ferretti, together with Giulia Costa, with the curatorial advice of with the curatorial advice of Beatrice Benedetti and Nina Fiocco, realized on the occasion of the XVI edition of ArtVerona, within the Video&TheCity program, which will be held from October 15 to 19 in the spaces of Palazzo Poste, a prestigious building designed by Ettore Fagiuoli in the 1920s, former headquarters of the Italian Post Office, which reopens the Salone degli Sportelli to the city after its transfer to private ownership and restoration work, encouraging the encounter between ancient and contemporary, returning to the city a place of great historical and architectural importance.
The exhibition – realized with the precious contribution of Boccanera Gallery, Galleria Giorgio Persano, Galleria Studio G7, Laveronica arte contemporanea, Mazzoleni, mor charpentier, MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Prometeo Gallery, Rodriguez Gallery, Spazio Cordis – presents a selection of internationally renowned artists together with young people from different cultural backgrounds, who use video and moving image to analyze and witness different “categories” of violence in individual and collective contexts, often incorporating new technologies and modes of digital circulation: Lida Abdul, Simona Andrioletti, Edgardo Aragón, Sofia Borelli, Elisa Caldana, Daniela Comani, Forensic Architecture, Regina José Galindo, Rodrigo Garrido, Debora Hirsch, Inhabitants, Michal Martychowiec, Rebecca Moccia, Giuliana Racco, belit sağ, Santiago Sierra, Diego Tonus, Chiara Ventura, Amir Yatziv, Dagmawi Ymer.
It will also be possible to consult documents and works from some self-organized digital video archives including LOOP Barcelona, bak.ma and Archivio delle memorie migranti.
The project aims to explore in a broad and participatory way the relationship between violence, document and public truth through the use of video. In particular, it focuses on video as a tool for documentation, research and narrative elaboration, addressing the concept of violence as a moral, social, political category and as a relative dimension, which is not only composed of explicit gestures and situations but also of subtle, masked actions.
Taking into consideration some of the current artistic trends that make their own methodologies and practices of research and production of images, data and information coming from transversal fields such as forensic sciences, architecture, journalism and activism, BLAST wants to develop a shared reflection on different ways of perceiving, analyzing and returning episodes and dynamics of force, violence and power on an individual but also collective level and on their representation and digital distribution.
The exhibition is the apex of a research project conceived and curated by Jessica Bianchera and Marta Ferretti, with the curatorial advice of Beatrice Benedetti and Nina Fiocco and the curatorial assistance of Giulia Costa, promoted by Urbs Picta in collaboration with a network of partners with public and private organizations and institutions that deal with video and moving image or that intercept in their activities the topics of investigation.
In addition to the exhibition, in fact, the project, which began in December 2020, consists of several areas of intervention mainly aimed at affirming the importance of contemporary art languages as vectors of analysis, involvement and social and cultural growth: learning, a series of educational workshops and training activities aimed at an audience of young people, students, art professionals and citizens of Verona that put contemporary art in dialogue with universal values and issues, local knowledge, people and territories; forum, a program of appointments that includes talks aimed at discussing and deepening the different approaches to the theme, a round table in which to problematize the themes of the project and compare different points of view, and screenings of further works, films and documentaries; virtual, a virtual apparatus that, in addition to acting as a collector and amplifier of all activities, develops a dedicated program usable exclusively online with previews, screenings and live broadcasts to allow a wide audience and geographically distant to participate and contribute to the project; alliances, designed specifically to give value to the skills of the partners and their contribution to the project.
Among the appointments already realized, there is the workshop Defence – What do you do with your anger? curated by the artist Simona Andrioletti with the contribution of Jonas Höschl and in collaboration with the boys of the day community Parsifal, Coop. Soc. Energie Sociali Onlus and Welfcare Saval (Consorzio Sol. Co) within learning; the performing lecture Indizi per storie di terra (Clues to earth stories) by the artist and curator Nina Fiocco in the spaces of the Museum of Natural History in collaboration with the Civic Museums of Verona; the talk La violenza di genere nell’arte (Gender violence in art) with the artist Sofia Borelli within the initiatives promoted by the Assessorato Pari Opportunità del Comune di Verona on the occasion of the World Day for the elimination of violence against women and the review Alterità, potere, dominio, sottomissione, sorveglianza (Alterity, power, domination, submission, surveillance) by Circolo del Cinema within virtual.
The whole project is accompanied by a publication conceived not as a simple catalog but as a further development of the research phase that will be presented on the occasion of the exhibition and within ArtVerona. The publication is edited by TBD ULTRAMAGAZINE, realized in collaboration with Asht*art consultancy and published by SIZ Industria Grafica.
BLAST is realized thanks to the support, backing and participation of national and international partners, in particular: AGIVERONA, ArtVerona, Careof, Cestim, Circolo del Cinema, Consorzio Sol. Co with WelfCare, Diplomart, Energie Sociali, Filema, InHabitat, Interzona, Le Fate Onlus, LOOP Barcelona, Palazzo Poste Verona, Parallelo42 contemporary art, Recontemporary, Seven Gravity collection for what concerns the scientific contents and the realization of talks and workshops; Asht*art consultancy for the visual concept of the project and the realization of a crowdfunding campaign in support of the initiative; SIZ Industria Grafica as editorial and printing partner of the publication; Fondazione Cariverona as the main supporter of the entire program of activities, Aquileia Capital Services s.r.l. for the headquarters of Palazzo Poste and the City of Verona, which supports numerous activities within the Department of Culture and the Department of Equal Opportunities.
BLAST also enjoys the patronage of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, the Province of Verona, the City of Verona, the Academy of Fine Arts of Verona and Fondazione Italia Patria della Bellezza, which selected the project as worthy among over seventy applications.
BLAST is the second edition of a multi-year project curated by Jessica Bianchera and Marta Ferretti, together with Giulia Costa, aimed at investigating the imagery of the present through video and moving image.
The first edition, To Be Played. Video, moving image and video installation in the Eighties generation (2019) was realized in collaboration with Giardino Giusti, ArtVerona, Careof and under the patronage of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, the Province of Verona, the City of Verona, the Academy of Fine Arts of Verona. It was held at Giardino Giusti (Verona) and in particular in the rooms of the Appartamento ‘900, reopened and inaugurated with a new layout on the occasion of the exhibition.