Art is always on in Italy, though those unfamiliar with the Italian art scene may not have contemporary art front of mind when visiting the country. Right now, among the many must-see art exhibitions in Europe this summer, there are several shows in Italy of works by artists on Hauser & Wirth’s roster. It’s an exciting time for contemporary art lovers in Italy, as from North to South, artists are engaging with the country’s heritage: think Louise Bourgeois’ works mounted in Europe’s first orphanage (designed by Brunelleschi) or Sonia Boyce pieces interacting with Italian folk songs in a medieval palace. To help you maximize your time in the country, we’ve compiled a list of the Italian venues hosting exhibitions of Houser & Wirth artists this summer.
Sonia Boyce at Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo
Golden Lion-winner artist Sonia Boyce (the first Black woman to receive this important award at the Venice Biennale) is presenting a new site-specific project, “Benevolence,” commissioned by GAMeC, in the beautiful Medieval Sala delle Capriate of Palazzo della Ragione in Bergamo (just thirty minutes from Milan).
Featuring six ‘visual monuments’ and an environmental video installation, the project is the result of a collaboration with the students from the local Gaetano Donizetti Higher Institute of Musical Studies and reframes their performance of the song “Bella Ciao” in Bergamo’s Città Alta. This multifaceted song has deep historical roots and a complicated lineage, symbolizing resistance and anti-fascism. By problematizing this folk tradition and the notion of “acoustic” memory, Boyce continues her collaborative approach to exploring identity and the complex dynamics of culture and values that shape our sense of community. As this song later became a symbol of global and transgenerational resistance, it provided the starting point for Boyce to undertake a significant reflection on the meaning of music, its value over time and its ability to unite but also to divide.
Here, as in other works, Boyce often creates a polyphonic space that fosters relationships based on improvisation, building with sound a community by training the coexistence of different voices: the final work on view was generated by the artist’s meditative mixing of video and photographic material filmed during the sound improvisation of the singers in the library spaces and a spontaneous performance in Piazza Vecchia when people started to sing from balconies— a collective performance that holds some explicit reference to the harsh lockdown period in the city (the most severely affected province in the world).
“Benevolence” is on view at Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo, through September 22.
Pierre Huyghe at Punta Della Dogana, Venice
In this once-in-lifetime exhibition, Pierre Huyghe has entirely transformed the spaces of Punta Della Dogana ( Pinault Collection) in Venice into a dynamic environment or ecosystem, where a series of organic and inorganic processes coexist, suggesting the critical idea of continuous transition. The visitor is forced into this experience of liminal space, exploring visible and invisible works and phenomena happening across the rooms. Living creatures such as fish and bacteria are active characters in this complex choreography, forcing us to reflect on the dynamics that connect micro and macro.
Featuring a selection of some of the most powerful works conceived by the visionary artist in the past years of his practice, the show shows the extension of his investigation into the changing relations between the human and the non-human and possible hybridizations that could solve ecological dramas. Once immersed in the exhibition, it’s hard to tell if we are already in a post-apocalypse time or in a parallel world where everything is still in formation. To Huyghe, this “speculative function” becomes a vehicle “for accessing the possible or the impossible—what could be or could not be.” imagining alternative modalities of coexistence that are already beyond any hierarchy or determinism established by the official science.
“Liminal” is on view at Punta della Dogana, Venice, through November 24.
Berlinde De Bruyckere at Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
Oscillating between transcendence and material immanence, drama and renewal, the exhibition presents three groups of never-before-seen works conceived by Berlinde De Bruyckere specifically for the sacred spaces of the Abbey. Creating a meaningful conversation through its grand architecture, function, symbolism and historical significance, the exhibition features a series of sculptures of archangels in the nave and along the side aisles of the Basilica, a large-scale installation at the Sacristy and vitrines containing sculptural works along the corridor of the Monastery Gallery.
As usual for the Belgian artist’s practice, she envisioned those creatures as fragmented hybrid forms between human and animal, with no organic elements. As one wanders around the rooms, there’s this sensation of dissolution, looming catastrophe and suffering but also resilience, creating a psychological territory dense with pathos that mixes tenderness and unease, anguish and forgiveness, punishment and redemption. At the same time, no space could be more perfect to present these works that are heavily inspired by the legacy of the great European masters: the Flemish Renaissance artists but, perhaps even more importantly, Christian iconography, mythology and folklore. Drawing its title from Nick Cave’s song of the same name, “City of Refuge III,” this is the third in a series of exhibitions by the artist in which she problematizes the idea of art as a place of refuge and shelter while interacting with the spiritual intensity of the place to activate a series of symbolic reminiscences with biblical passages while layering existing stories inspired by dramatic current events.
“City of Refuge III” is on view at Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, through November 24.
Zeng Fanzhi at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, Venice
Within the magnificent frescoed interiors of Scuola Grande della Misericordia in Venice, Chinese artist Zeng Fanghi presents a series of luminous monumental-scale paintings with the show “Near and Far/Now and Then.” Organized by LACMA and with an installation designed by architect Tadao Ando, the exhibition presents the latest breakthroughs in Zeng’s work, shedding light on the artist’s ambitious practice of redefining abstraction. Zeng’s paintings are characterized by this hypnotic interplay of pigments and light, matter and space. Challenging the legacy of Impressionist and Pointillist practices, these new works present figures that seem to appear and dissolve in the shimmering effect produced by the dynamic accumulation of thick but rapid brushstrokes on the canvas. With the perfect lighting, viewers can immerse themselves in a spacious space that feels like diving into a lively galaxy, where different luminous and chromatic points intermittently shine and guide the way.
“Zeng Fanzhi: Near and Far/Now and Then” is on view at Scuola Grande Della Misericordia in Venice through September 30.
William Kentridge at Arsenale Institute for Politics of Representation, Venice
For his exhibition at Arsenale Institute for Politics of Representation in Venice, South African artist William Kentridge has collaborated with renowned curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (formerly of dOCUMENTA 13) to premiere his new nine-episode video series, Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot. The series consists of thirty-minute episodes directed by Kentridge and shot in his Johannesburg studio during and in the aftermath of the pandemic and completed in 2023. “Filming began in the first lockdown, and the studio mimicked the closed spaces of COVID,” Kentridge said in a statement, “but the studio is also an enlarged head, a chamber for thoughts and reflections where all the drawings, photos, and detritus on the walls become these thoughts.”
Conceived to circulate online, on mobile or on television, the series connects people to the solitude of the artist’s studio, opening it to the world as a hymn of artistic freedom, encouraging us to pursue creativity as a tool of self-resistance and self-affirmation in difficult times. The videos eventually reveal how the action of mark-making is essential for the construction and awareness of the self: as he’s freely drawing and painting, manifesting this deep connection between brain and hand, between traces and the rhythm, Kentridge proves how art-making can be a critical form of mental gymnastics or yoga for the brain. Something that is becoming even more important in an era in which A.I. and the increasing use of social media threaten to atrophy our cognitive and emotional abilities.
“Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot” is on view at the Arsenale Institute for Politics of Representation in Venice through November 24.
Louise Bourgeois at Museo Novecento and Museo Degli Innocenti, Florence
Housed in Museo del Novecento, the 20th-century art museum in front of the iconic Santa Maria Novella, this extensive exhibition presents 100 works by Louise Bourgeois in fascinating conversations with the former Leopoldine building. Titled “Do Not Abandon Me,” it gravitates around the artist’s complex of abandonment she suffered resulting from a troubled relationship with her mother that eventually shaped not only the rest of her life but also her art. The exhibition includes a vast series of more lyric and diaristic gouaches the artist made in her later period as intimate reflections on the circles of life between sexuality, procreation, birth, motherhood, feeding, dependency, relationships and family as well as parallels between human dynamics and the flora. In conversation with those gouaches, there’s a series of Bourgeois’s highly symbolic sculptures made of fabric, bronze, marble and other materials, which materialize in tridimensional forms, isolated moments and feelings.
One highlight of the show is Spider Couple (2003), one of the most emblematic creations of the artist. However, the power piece is probably her Cell XVIII (Portrait), which has been placed in the Museo degli Innocenti, the complex designed by Renaissance master Brunelleschi. The deep pathos and dense symbolism of this sculpture establish a highly evocative symbolic dialogue with the place and its history, being a hospital founded in 1419 and essentially Europe’s first orphanage. The choice to present this specific work in powerful resonance with this unique venue was made by Philip Larratt-Smith in dialogue with Arabella Natalini, director of the Museo degli Innocenti, and Stefania Rispoli, curator of the Museo Novecento.
“Do Not Abandon Me” is on view at Museo Novecento and Museo Degli Innocenti, Florence, through October 20.
Louise Bourgeois at Galleria Borghese, Rome
Another unexpected yet revealing dialogue between the contemporary sculptures of Louise Bourgeois and a historical place and collection is happening in the majestic spaces of Galleria Borghese in Rome, a treasure chest for Baroque art and Italian masters collected throughout the 17th Century by the Borghese family and Scipione Borghese in particular. Titled “Unconscious Memories,” the exhibition features a selection of twenty sculptural works in dialogue with the unique architecture of the Casino Borghese and its collection, unveiling the significant inspiration Bourgeois found there during her first visit to Rome in 1967 and subsequent trips during her studies at the Louvre, with sojourns in Pietrasanta, Carrara and other places in Tuscany and Lazio. Notably, it was around that time and in those Italian places that Bourgeois further explored materials, such as marble and bronze, for her sculptures. Resonating with Bernini’s sculptures also housed in the museum and with the recurring motifs of the paintings in the Baroque age, the exhibition revolves around the notions of metamorphosis, memory and the expression of emotional and psychological states. Exhibitions like this are probably once-in-a-lifetime and confirm the symbolic but also cultural value of these conversations between ancient and contemporary art, as able to unravel recurring themes throughout the history of human civilization.
“Unconscious Memories” is on view at Galleria Borghese, Rome, through September 10.
Louise Bourgeois at Studio Trisorio, Naples
The last location where you can encounter Louise Bourgeois’s works in Italy this summer is in Naples, where Studio Trisorio offers a solo exhibition of works by the artist across media. Titled “Rare Language,” the show features thirty-five drawings made by the artist between 1947 and 2008 and four bronze sculptures, providing a thorough overview of the artist’s artistic exploration that also emphasizes its connection with her personal emotional journey and inner traumas. The focus here is on the deeply personal and autobiographical nature of Bourgeois’s works while enlightening her ability to elevate those to a more universal level. Exploring deeply psychological states and emotional dynamics, Bourgeois’ drawings are creative spaces where she expresses her emotions, desires and fantasies. At the same time, in her sculptures, she translates tangible three-dimensional forms and powerful metaphors for significant moments in our lives and relationships with others.
“Louise Bourgeois. Rare Language” is on view at Studio Trisorio, Naples, through October 31.
Rita Ackermann at Fondazione Iris, Bassano in Teverina
This summer, gallery Amanita (Florence, New York) is organizing at Fondazione Iris “Manna Rain” in collaboration with Hauser & Wirth. The solo exhibition features new work by Rita Ackermann, including a new suite of paintings and works on paper, a film and a site-specific mural. The pieces in this exhibition are a culmination and celebration of Ackermann’s longstanding engagement with Cy Twombly’s oeuvre, which follows a similar approach to signs and traces on canvas and is mostly guided by the spontaneous expression of the subconscious. Not far from the surrealist notion of “automatic writing,” the artist’s process is mainly driven by spontaneity and intuition, instinctively transferring messages and meaning on the canvas while tapping into both inner narratives and a broader collective unconscious of images. The result is an unrestrained blend of figuration and abstraction, in a restless confrontation between impulses of creation and destruction that seem to inform her work similarly. Most of Ackermann’s canvases become a record of her movements, revealing the profound physical and psychological engagement of the artist in the process of their creation.
Notably, one of the founders of Amanita is Caio Trwobly, grandson of the famous artist Cy Trowbly. After two years of renovation, they opened Fondazione Iris inside a historic palazzo that Cy Twombly acquired in 1975. He later transformed it with the help of Giorgio Franchetti into a place where he could find solace and reconnect with history, being close to Rome and so many Etruscan sites that always inspired his art. Functioning as a residency site, an exhibition hall and a performance space, plus a center for scholarly research, Iris aims to be a “physical testament” to the Twombly family’s commitment to preserving artistic heritage and nurturing creative endeavors. The foundation is also a custodian of Cy Twombly’s extensive library, a precious resource for scholars interested in studying the artist and the many books he accumulated throughout his life.
“Manna Rain” is at Fondazione Iris, Bassano in Teverina through July 30.
