ART CITY Bologna 2025, two former churches will host solo shows by Per Barclay and Alessandro Sciaraffa

On the occasion of ART CITY Bologna 2025 and Arte Fiera, the National Museums of Bologna-Regional Directorate National Museums Emilia-Romagna presents two exhibitions by Per Barclay (Oslo, 1955) and Alessandro Sciaraffa (Turin, 1976).

Curated by Denise Tamborrino and Patrizia Cirino, the exhibition featuring Per Barclay in an evocative reworking of Guido Reni ’s Strage degli Innocenti will open from January 31 to February 9 in the exhibition spaces of theformer Church of San Barbaziano (consolidation and restoration works have just been completed and it is on this occasion that they will be presented to the public. Alessandro Sciaraffa’s solo exhibition, titled Harmonic Room, curated by Patrizia Cirino and Denise Tamborrino and realized in collaboration with MAMbo -Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, will instead be held from Feb. 6 to 16 in the spaces of theformer Church of San Mattia, which will host the reflection on sound that has always distinguished the artist’s research.

Per Barclay at the former church of San Barbaziano

Per Barclay reinterprets Guido Reni’s La Strage degli Innocenti (The Massacre of the Innocents ) inside the former Church of San Barbaziano with an installation intervention, with the intention of activating a complex fruition experience of a social, cognitive and emotional nature and insights into the age of contemporary disorientation, vulnerability, contradictions and conflicts of our complex and troubled times.

Thus, on this exhibition occasion, the former Church of San Barbaziano will be reopened to the public after a long restoration project curated by Studio Poggioli. Per Barclay’s work lies between photography, sculpture and installation and has the unquestionable power of not leaving his audience indifferent. The artist, like a stage director, works in real space and transforms it into a fictitious place, telling another story. The architectural space becomes the scene, according to his interpretation, to create the work. Wars, profits, markets are at the center of this actualization of Guido Reni’s masterpiece. The viewer is invited to abandon the usual fruitive and cognitive habits in order to access a different horizon of meaning.

The space of the former Church of San Barbaziano thus becomes a space of active mediation, a place that invites the public to give “time to time,” a time in which memories, desires and personal sensibilities can emerge and intertwine with multiple communicative dimensions. Per Barclay’s exhibition is produced in collaboration with AICS Bologna, Otto Gallery, Bologna and Galleria Giorgio Persano, Turin. Due to the extreme fragility of the work, it can only be visited after booking on Eventbrite (maximum 45 people per round are allowed).

Per Barclay was born in Oslo in 1955 and lives and works between Turin and Oslo. He studied Art History at the University of Bergen, later completing his education at the State Art Institute in Florence, the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and finally the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. In 1990 he participated in the XLIV Venice Biennale exhibiting at the Nordic Countries Pavilion. His works have been exhibited in prestigious museums around the world.

On Saturday, Feb. 8 and Sunday, Feb. 9, during the ART CITY weekend, the former Church of San Barbaziano will also host the site-specific performance Soglia, curated by SCS Ekodanza. A work that imagines the body as a limen (threshold) that both distinguishes and constrains, joining multiple determinations in a dynamic process. Admission is by reservation only via Eventbrite (maximum 45 people per shift admitted: Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m.; Feb. 9 at noon and 1 p.m.).

Alessandro Sciaraffa at the Ex Chiesa di San Mattia

From February 6 to 16, theEx Chiesa di San Mattia hosts an exhibition by Alessandro Sciaraffa, an artist whose work investigates the potential of sound in relation to space, nature, and our perception, emotional and sensory, with the help of technology. The exhibition is produced in collaboration with MAMbo - Museum of Modern Art in Bologna and with Galleria Giorgio Persano in Turin and Galleria Mazzoli in Modena.

The artist transforms the historic former Church of San Mattia into a Harmonic Room, an immersive space where sound, light and vibrations intertwine to amplify the public’s perception. The event aims to create a dialogue between tradition and innovation, actively engaging visitors in a unique sensory journey.

Sciaraffa explores the relationship between the individual and the cosmos, offering an experience that goes beyond the boundaries of traditional representation to touch the deepest chords of human sensibility. The Church of St. Matthias, with its historical and spiritual relevance, will thus become the focus of a composition of emotions that transcends the visible and the tangible. Each work is intended to contribute to a unified experience that evokes a kaleidoscope of sensations, from meditative calm to a sense of cosmic vastness, from exploratory curiosity to deep inner connection. The interplay of resonant sounds, shifting lights and tangible vibrations creates an environment that stimulates personal and collective reflection, transporting visitors to a dimension where time seems suspended and space becomes a sounding board for emotions and thoughts.

Alessandro Sciaraffa is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice focuses on creating sound installations, interactive sculptures and multimedia works that explore sensory perception and the interactions between sound, light and space. His work combines technology with poetic reflection on time, space and bodily experience. He has exhibited in numerous national and international contexts, museums and galleries.

ART CITY Bologna 2025, two former churches will host solo shows by Per Barclay and Alessandro Sciaraffa

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