Bologna, the Oratory of the Holy Spirit revives with the work of Nina Carini

In the heart of Bologna, a secret, history-laden place opens for the first time to contemporary art. From Feb. 6 to 9, theOratorio dello Spirito Santo, located at Via Val d’Aposa 6, will host the exhibition Mani come rami che toccano cielo (Hands like branches touching sky) by Nina Carini, curated by Rischa Paterlini. The event, included in the official calendar of ART CITY Bologna 2025 on the occasion of ArteFiera, marks a turning point for this ancient Renaissance building, which for centuries remained closed and unknown even to the people of Bologna.

The oratory, founded in the 15th century by Celestine monks as a place of prayer and meditation, now opens to contemporary art with a bronze sculptural installation placed in the apse. Two mirror-polished bronze sculptures rise up with the idea of evoking a gesture of tension and metamorphosis, a silent dialogue between matter and spirit. The installation is the result of artistic and artisanal work developed between September and November 2024 at Fonderia Artistica Battaglia.

Nina Carini, starting from a sketch in her diary, gives life to an installation that combines the desire to reach beyond with the difficulty of material realization. Bronze, a heavy material par excellence, is transformed here into an aerial, almost immaterial element, suggesting man’s eternal quest toward something greater and unattainable. The idea stems from a sketch by the artist, in which the two wafer-thin arms soar upward, attempting to grasp the invisible.

“The two branches reaching toward the sky, shaping themselves into soft lines, seem to dance in the air,” emphasizes the curator, Rischa Paterlini. “Each movement of these natural forms reflects a delicate balance between the material and the invisible, between the tangible and the desirable. The work goes beyond mere physical form; it is a manifesting energy, telling of a profound change, a tension that pushes beyond the surface and invites us to look at what is beyond what we see. This work is not merely a representation of the body, but becomes an action that crosses the boundaries of perception, a call to something greater, an aspiration that cannot be grasped. This sculpture is a nonverbal prayer, a longing for understanding that crosses time and space, without ever arriving at a definitive answer.”

“I imagined these two very thin arms leaning against the wall, so that I could see a fissure in space, two very thin lines of light,” Carini writes in his journal.

The exhibition, accompanied by critical texts by Rischa Paterlini and Pina De Luca, will be open from Feb. 6 to 9 from noon to 7 p.m. (Feb. 8 until midnight).

Bologna, the Oratory of the Holy Spirit revives with the work of Nina Carini

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