Exhibition
Palazzo De’ Toschi, Bologna
03.02 – 01.03.2026
Exhibition
Palazzo De’ Toschi, Bologna
03.02 – 01.03.2026
FRANCISCO TROPA
MISS AMERICA
Curated by Simone Menegoi
Palazzo De’ Toschi – Banca di Bologna Conference Hall
3 February – 1 March 2026
On the occasion of ART CITY Bologna 2026, the Banca di Bologna Conference Hall at Palazzo De’ Toschi will host Miss America, an exhibition by the Portuguese artist Francisco Tropa (Lisbon, 1968), curated by Simone Menegoi.
The exhibition reaffirms Banca di Bologna’s commitment to promoting contemporary art; since 2016 the prestigious Palazzo De’ Toschi, the bank’s representative headquarters, has welcomed internationally renowned artists.
“Within the ART CITY circuit, this exhibition by Francisco Tropa is the tenth contemporary art show we have organized in our Palazzo De’ Toschi spaces,” says Alberto Ferrari, General Director of Banca di Bologna. “Over the years we have offered visitors—about 15,000 in the last edition—exhibitions of great prestige within the event’s programme. The bank plays an important role in supporting and promoting the city’s cultural identity and is a key partner for numerous cultural initiatives. This confirms our commitment to working on high‑quality curatorial projects, turning our gaze toward the contemporary art scene, including internationally.”
The Exhibition
Miss America is Francisco Tropa’s first large‑scale solo exhibition in Italy since Scenario, the Portuguese Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Art Biennale. It consists of two large works: in the small room, Lantern with clock mechanism [Lanterna con meccanismo a orologeria], 2025, a projection of moving shadows; in the main hall, Miss America, from which the exhibition takes its title, a new creation that inaugurates a new cycle of works by the artist. The installation features a performance executed by six performers (three women and three men) that will take place exclusively during the first week of the exhibition (3 – 8 February).
Lantern with clock mechanism, 2025, is a recent example of the Lanterns cycle presented by Tropa in the 2011 Portuguese Pavilion. These are projections of shadows produced by small objects placed in front of light sources designed by the artist (“lanterns”). Sometimes the objects relate to the measurement of time (sand and water hourglasses or, as in the work exhibited in Bologna, clock mechanisms); in other cases they are fragile and fleeting (spider webs, dried leaves of which only the veins remain, dead insects). Taken together, the works in the cycle compose a great vanitas, that genre of 17th‑century still life whose iconography reminds the viewer of the transience of things. But the work also evokes other associations, no less fascinating: the procession of shadows in Plato’s allegory of the cave (Republic, Book VII), which the protagonists of the allegory mistake for reality; the nostalgic charm of Chinese shadow plays, ancestors of cinema.
Miss America at first glance appears as a lattice of ropes that traverse the Salone from side to side, supported by bamboo canes and dotted with clothespins. In reality, both the bamboo canes and the clothespins are bronze casts, carefully patinated to mimic the colour of the real objects. What at first glance looks like an exact fragment of reality (a clothes rack) is thus revealed to be a completely artificial creation, a sculpture finished in every detail.
In addition to the clothespins, signs with Portuguese text related to the activities of bars, restaurants and other commercial establishments hang from the ropes: “Cercasi cameriera”, “Torno subito”, “Specialità della casa”, etc. Like all the main objects that make up the installation, the signs are also artworks—serigraphs on paper reproducing a series of old signs collected by the artist.
For a few hours each day the installation fills with sheets hung out to dry. The performers’ action consists simply of this: hanging the laundry, then taking it down and starting over, with slow, contemplative gestures. From a simple and routine household chore, the operation becomes a choreography. During the performance events, the sheets will be alternately removed and replaced depending on the time of day, thus offering a dual image of the installation.
The link between the hanging sheets, the commercial inscriptions and the title “Miss America” is an enigma that Tropa does not wish to unravel, leaving its interpretation to the viewer. He notes, however, that the expression “Miss America” can be read in two ways: interpreting “Miss” as a courtesy title (“Miss America”) or as the verb “to miss” — and then the title takes on the meaning of “I miss (or “we miss”) America.” A paradoxical phrase if applied to today’s America, increasingly aggressive and hostile towards the rest of the world, but one that makes sense when thinking of America in the first half of the twentieth century: a mythical place, more dreamed of than known, that has fascinated generations of Europeans. It is perhaps that America, now consigned to memory, that hovers, like a ghost, around the work.
Thanks to Jocelyn Wolff Gallery, Paris.
The Artist
Francisco Tropa was born in 1968 in Lisbon, where he lives. In addition to participating twice in the Venice Biennale (in 2003, in the international exhibition, and in 2011, as the artist representing Portugal), he has taken part in the Rennes Biennale (2012), the Istanbul Biennale (2011), Manifesta (2000), the Melbourne Biennale (1999) and the São Paulo Biennale (1998).
Among his solo exhibitions of the last decade: Paésine, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (MC), 2024; ⒶMO‑TE, Museu Serralves, Porto (PT), 2024; The Lung and the Heart, Musée d’art moderne de Paris, Paris, 2022; Che Vuoi?, Le Creux de l’Enfer, Thiers (FR), 2022; The Pyrgus from Chaves, Fundaçào Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, 2019; Scripta (performance), Centre National de la Danse, Paris, 2018; Gigante (performance), festival MOVE, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2018; TSAE - Trésors Submergés de l’Ancienne Égypte, Musée Régional d’Art Contemporain Languedoc - Roussillon, Sérignan (FR), 2015; TSAE - Tesouros Submersos do Antigo Egipto, Museu de Lisboa, Lisbon, 2014; STAE - Submerged Treasures of Ancient Egypt, La Verrière, Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès, Brussels (BE), 2013.
Performance schedule
The actions planned within the installation Miss America will take place exclusively during the first week of the exhibition, at the following times:
- Tuesday 3 February (opening): 19 - 19.30; 21 - 21.30.
- Wednesday 4 February: 10.30 - 11; 14 - 14.30; 17.15 - 17.45; 18.30 - 19.00.
- Thursday 5 February: 10.30 - 11; 14 - 14.30; 15.30 - 16; 19 - 19.30.
- Friday 6 February: 10.30 - 11; 14 - 14.30; 15.30 - 16; 20 - 20.30.
- Saturday 7 February: 10.30 - 11; 14 - 14.30; 15.30 - 16; 23 - 23.30
- Sunday 8 February: 10.30 - 11; 14 - 14.30; 15.30 - 16.
After the first week the work will remain on display in a static form.
Information
-
CURATED BY
-
Simone Menegoi
-
IN THE CONTEXT OF
-
ART CITY Bologna 2026
-
DATES
-
3 February – 1 March 2026
-
VENUE
-
Palazzo De’ Toschi – Banca di Bologna Conference Hall
Piazza Minghetti 4/D, Bologna -
OPENING
-
Tuesday 3 February, 18 - 22
-
HOURS
-
during ART CITY Bologna 2026
4, 5 February, 10 - 20
6, 8 February, 10 - 21
7 February, 10 - 24after ART CITY Bologna 2026
Saturday and Sunday: 11 - 21Free admission
-
INFORMATION
-
Marketing and Communication Manager
Banca di Bologna – Francesca Caselli
marketing@bancadibologna.it | Tel. 051 6571111
www.bancadibologna.it
Video
Press
-
PRESS OFFICE
-
Sara Zolla | press@sarazolla.com | +39 346 8457982
-
PRESS KIT
-
PRESS REVIEW
-
ANSA
ARTE GO
ARTE VARESE
ARTRIBUNE
ARTRIBUNE (ART CITY)
ARTRIBUNE (ART WEEK)
ARTRIBUNE (EVENTO)
ATP DIARY
ATP DIARY (ART CITY)
BOLOGNA DA VIVERE
BOLOGNA DA VIVERE (MOSTRA)
BOLOGNA TODAY
BOLOGNA TODAY (MOSTRA)
BOLOGNA TODAY (SPECIALE)
BOLOGNA TODAY (WEEKEND)
COSE DI CASA
CULTURA BOLOGNA
DIFFERENT MAGAZINE
DONNA MODERNA
DONNA MODERNA (ART CITY)
ELLE DECOR
EMILIA ROMAGNA NEWS 24
EXIBART
EXIBART (EVENTO)
EXIBART (RECENSIONE)
GRANDI STORIE DI PICCOLI BORGHI
HARPER’S BAZAAR
ICON MAGAZINE
IO DONNA
IL GIORNALE DELL’ARTE
IL RESTO DEL CARLINO
IL RESTO DEL CARLINO (NOTTE BIANCA)
IL RESTO DEL CARLINO (PUBBLIREDZIONALE)
INFORMAZIONE.NEWS
IN CRONACA (UNIBO)
INNOVARTE.IT
ITINERARI NELL’ARTE
ITALIA OGGI
JULIET
LULOP
MELO BOX
MOUSSE
MSN NOTIZIE
NEU RADIO (PODCAST)
NON SOLO EVENTI PARMA
POLITICAMENTE CORRETTO
RETE 55
TEATRI ONLINE
TELA NARRANTE
TRC BOLOGNA
TISCALI
UMBIGO
VOGUE
ZERO
ZERO DICIOTTO
Corriere della Sera 3/2/26
Resto del Carlino 3/2/26
la Repubblica 3/2/26