Exhibition
MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna
20 January – 15 May 2022
Banca di Bologna – Palazzo De’ Toschi
12 – 29 May 2022
Exhibition
MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna
20 January – 15 May 2022
Banca di Bologna – Palazzo De’ Toschi
12 – 29 May 2022
ITALO ZUFFI
FRONTE E RETRO
MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna
20 January – 15 May 2022
Banca di Bologna – Palazzo De’ Toschi
12 – 29 May 2022
Curated by Lorenzo Balbi and Davide Ferri
Promoted by ART CITY Bologna 2022
The exhibition
On the occasion of ART CITY Bologna 2022, Banca di Bologna presents Fronte e retro (Front and Back), a solo exhibition by Italo Zuffi held in the Conference Hall of Palazzo De’ Toschi. This exhibition completes the project inaugurated last January at MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna.
Curated by Lorenzo Balbi and Davide Ferri, the exhibition maintains both temporal and conceptual continuity with the one displayed at MAMbo, forming a single project articulated across two spaces. While the first part takes a retrospective look at Zuffi’s work (spanning pieces created between the mid-1990s and 2020), at Palazzo De’ Toschi a series of new productions delve into some of the pivotal aspects of his recent research.
This passing of the baton ensures that the exhibition across both spaces remains entirely focused on an Italian artist, one of the most significant among those born in the late 1960s, offering an in-depth exploration of his work from multiple perspectives.
At Palazzo De’ Toschi, Fronte e retro features a series of new works created specifically in response to the characteristics of the exhibition space, with a particular focus on sculptural practice. This practice is configured as a faithful reproduction of forms while simultaneously questioning those forms through intrusions and fragmentations. Moreover, this second exhibition highlights one of the fundamental aspects of Zuffi’s recent research: his exploration of language, employed both in poetic form (such as his collection of brief poetic texts titled Poesie Doppie, written between 2013 and 2014 and published by Sete) and as an element from which sculptural forms emerge.
The exhibition setup, which annually reinterprets the Conference Hall of Banca di Bologna at Palazzo De’ Toschi in entirely new ways, centers on the dialogue between two key works. Civilizzarsi (Civilizing Oneself), a piece that unfolds from the use of words as tools for describing simple, everyday actions, generating processes of action, reaction, and synthesis, is presented alongside a new version of Gli ignari (The Unaware): a series of ceramic still lifes accompanied by sounds created by a layering of whistles, here reinterpreted into a novel composition. Each of these two works is installed on the walls of a triangular structure with a strong sculptural presence in the space. These two poles, functioning as devices accessible from all sides, are equipped with independent lighting, allowing visitors to chart their own path in the darkness of the hall.
Finally, an adjacent space to the main hall will host a third installation, offering a further reflection on sculpture. A series of carts bearing fruits display possible combinations of elements marked by traces of alteration, seeming to embody the idea of a contrast and a desire to redefine their very forms.
The artist
Born in Imola in 1969. Lives in Milan.
A visual artist, he works with performance, sculpture, and writing.
He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London. In 2001, he was awarded the Wheatley Bequest Fellowship in Fine Art (Sculpture) at the Institute of Art & Design, School of Art in Birmingham (UK).
He teaches at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan and the Free University of Bolzano, Faculty of Design & Arts. From 2011 to 2019, he was a Visiting Lecturer in Performance at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (NL). In 2013, he co-founded the collective Pawel und Pavel with Margherita Morgantin.
Recent solo exhibitions include In forma di riepilogo, CLER, Milan (2019); postura, posa, differita, ar/ge kunst, Bolzano (2016); Potersi dire, MAN, Nuoro (2015); Quello che eri, e quello che sei, Nomas Foundation, Rome (2015); La penultima assenza del corpo, Fondazione Pietro Rossini, Briosco (2012); Zuffi, Italo, Pinksummer, Genoa (2010).
Recent group exhibitions include IN BIANCO. La porcellana nella ceramica d’arte italiana contemporanea, curated by Matteo Zauli, Museum of Art of the Jingdezhen Ceramic University, Jingdezhen, China (2021); Performative 01, Contact(less), Maxxi L’Aquila (2021); 141 – Un secolo di disegno in Italia, curated by Maura Pozzati and Claudio Musso, Palazzo Paltroni, Bologna (2021); C.U.O.R.E. (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events), Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Palazzo Lucarini Contemporary, Trevi (2021); Non giudicare, curated by Viola Emaldi, Antico Convento di San Francesco, Bagnacavallo (2020); Vincenzo Agnetti, Autoritratti Ritratti – Scrivere, Enrico Castellani Piero Manzoni Italo Zuffi, curated by Giovanni Iovane, Building Gallery, Milan (2019); BienNolo, Ex Fabbrica Cova, Milan (2019); HOSPITALITY, curated by Marie de Brugerolle, Non-objectif sud, La Barralière, Tulette (FR) (2018); Deposito d’arte italiana presente, curated by Ilaria Bonacossa and Vittoria Martini, Artissima, Turin (2017); Roberto Daolio. Vita e incontri di un critico d’arte attraverso le opere di una collezione non intenzionale, curated by Uliana Zanetti, MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna (2017); 16th Quadriennale di Roma (section curated by Michele D’Aurizio), Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (2016); Toute première fois, curated by Francesca Napoli and Armelle Leturcq, 22 Visconti, Paris (2016); Ricettivo nouveau, Garage Carcani, Rome (2016); THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME, Approdo Fluviale, Lungotevere San Paolo, Rome (2016); Contemporary, avant-garde music and art festival, curated by Maurizio Coccia and Roberto Follesa, Various Venues, Donori (2016); Fuori Uso, curated by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio, Ex Tribunale, Pescara (2016); Riviera, curated by Caterina Riva, Swiss Institute of Milan (2016); Performance: everywhere, curated by Frida Carazzato, Teatro Cristallo, Bolzano (2016); Ipercorpo 2016 – Cosa rimane (section curated by Davide Ferri), Ex Centrale Avicola Amadori, Forlì (2016); ALT, curated by Cripta 747, Caserma De Sonnaz, Turin (2015).
Artworks
-/-
A Master’s Span (Agnes Martin Kippenberger), 2007, Ceramic, spray paint, approximately 10 x 50 x 10 cm.
A Master’s Span (Walter De Maria Nicola), 2007, Ceramic, spray paint, strap, approximately 10 x 50 x 10 cm.
Gli ignari, 2013-15, 7 ceramic elements, audio track, site-specific dimensions.
La replica, 2009, 4 elements in Botticino marble and 1 element in red marble, approximately 90 x 50 cm. Unique edition.
La replica, 2007, Green Guatemala marble and red travertine, 110 x 48 x 25 cm.
La replica, 2007, Green Guatemala marble and red travertine, 110 x 48 x 25 cm.
Niente di personale, 2001
Profilati, 2001, Wood and paint.
Resting branch, 2003, Glazed terracotta, variable dimensions.
Scomposizione IV, 1999-2002
Una linea nell’arte italiana, 2010, 4 aluminum plaques, each 27 x 8 x 1.2 cm.
Zuffi per Bonami, 2010, Performance (18 people, 18 scarves, 2 clotheslines, aluminum plate). Edition of 3.
Alt! Farsi riconoscere, 2015, Acrylic on canvas.
Poesie doppie, 2014, Performance. Photo by Riccardo Baruzzi.
Exhibition view: Italo Zuffi - postura, posa, differita at ar/ge kunst, 2016. Photo by Tiberio Sorvillo.
Ricostruzione, Performance during Ipercorpo, 2016. Photo by Gianluca ‘naphalina’ Camporesi.
Il sotto, 2016, Performance, Swiss Institute of Milan. Performer: Matteo Lanfranchi. Photo by Ivan Grianti.
Information
- EXIBITION CURATED BY
- Lorenzo Balbi e Davide Ferri
- DATES
- MAMbo, 20 gennaio – 15 maggio 2022
Palazzo De’ Toschi | Banca di Bologna, 12 – 29 maggio 2022 - LOCATIONS
- MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, via Don Minzoni 14 | Bologna
Sala Convegni Banca di Bologna – Palazzo De’ Toschi, piazza Minghetti 4/D | Bologna
Press
- PRESS RELEASE
- Press release
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PALAZZO DE’ TOSCHI - Sara Zolla – Tel. +39 346 8457982 e-mail press@sarazolla.com
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