Bologna, Palazzo Bentivoglio welcomes Andreas Angelidakis' movable ruins

From April 28 to June 12, 2022, Palazzo Bentivoglio in Bologna presents as part of ART CITY Bologna 2022 the exhibition project by Andreas Angelidakis (Athens, 1968) entitled POST-RUIN Bentivoglio, curated by Antonio Grulli.

The large installation created in 2020 traverses the three rooms of the palace’s 16th-century basement and refers to the building’s past, linked to the previous palace of the Bolognese family destroyed by a popular uprising: the concept of ruin is here subverted by making the work usable at will by the public. In fact, the latter consists of modular elements through which spaces can be modified, assembling them to recreate a hypothetical ancient ruin or dividing them in the exhibition environment. The blocks, arches and fragments of the ruin are made of soft, lightweight materials. The surface of the pieces is printed with a photograph of a marble pattern.

The work intends to question the monumentality and respect we usually accord to antiquities. In this project, the installation becomes a sculpture that can be used to experience the space and observe the other works. Indeed, the three exhibition spaces feature videos both environmental and projected on screens, in which the vision of architecture and inhabited space in their historical progress exemplify Angelidakis’ work. Along with these, a series of small sculptures made using 3D printers and capable of making real the architectural visions designed on the computer by the artist are displayed. While in the first room the audience is greeted by two large wallpapers made especially for the occasion, another classic element of his artistic production.

Angelidakis moves in the border space where art and architecture overlap. He has been called an architect who does not build: he uses art to reflect on the space around us and the way new technologies affect architecture and the way we live. His approach does not descend into moralizing about present customs and habits. The computer, the Internet, and the new social platforms become for him one of the main tools of architectural making, allowing him to move a generally collective practice, building, into the isolation of the artistic and intellectual studio.

Image: Detail from Monuments Wallpaper © Andreas Angelidakis

Bologna, Palazzo Bentivoglio welcomes Andreas Angelidakis' movable ruins

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