Chiara Dynys at Palazzo Citterio: the baroque sea of Once Again

From May 8 to September 7, 2025, the Stirling underground hall of Palazzo Citterio in Milan is transformed into a dreamlike landscape thanks to Once Again, the new site-specific installation by Chiara Dynys (Mantua, 1958), curated by Anna Bernardini. A work that combines baroque and contemporary suggestions to envelop the public in an experience between the real and the surreal. The installation takes the form of a large stage machine inspired by ancient Baroque theaters. Three huge perspective rollers, twelve meters long and ten meters wide, rotate nonstop, simulating the motion of waves and their impact on the shoreline. The movement is hypnotic, accompanied by a mechanical sound that amplifies the sense of immersion, evoking the symbolic power of the sea. An element that has always been central in the collective imagination, capable of representing travel, change, and memory.

The title Once Again recalls Nietzsche’s theory of theEternal Return, a concept that runs through the artist’s poetics. The work reflects his constant dialogue with space, a research that has lasted more than 30 years and here reaches a new level of interaction between matter, light and perception. As the audience passes through the Stirling room, they find themselves walking on a symbolic seashore, a place of transition in which words and fragments surface that refer to collective memory, the personal history of each visitor and Dynys’ poetics. The light element is another key aspect of the project. Above, along the perimeter of the room, a 360-degree moving light track amplifies the suspended atmosphere, while the central column of the Stirling room takes on the symbolic function of a lighthouse, a reference point in this liquid landscape. The installation is introduced by an unprecedented work, Blue Gate, a luminous door in silver-white glass that stands as a threshold between the real world and the world of the work. A passage that recalls the idea of a new beginning, reinforced by the play of reflections created by an iridescent glass diamond, capable of diffusing light throughout the opalescent structure.

Materials and techniques play an essential role in the artistic language of Dynys, who in Once Again combines tradition and innovation. The illusionistic rendering of wave motion stems from careful experimentation with sophisticated materials, worked with artisanal processes that recall past eras but fit seamlessly into the contemporary. The absence of a rigid visual hierarchy allows the work to expand in space, enveloping the viewer in a dimension without fixed points of reference. The installation is accompanied by the publication of a catalog published by Allemandi, produced in collaboration with theArchivio Chiara Dynys. The volume documents the exhibition project at Palazzo Citterio, offering an in-depth look at the artist’s research through critical contributions by Anna Bernardini, Angelo Crespi, Alessandro Castiglioni and Giorgio Verzotti.

Notes on the artist

Chiara Dynys, born in Mantua and active in Milan, is one of the most relevant figures in Italian contemporary art. Her artistic career has led her to participate in numerous exhibition projects both in Italy and abroad. Her works have been hosted by important international institutions, including the Musée d’Art Moderne in Saint-Étienne (1992), the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva (1996), the CIAC - Centre International d’Art Contemporain in Montréal (1997), the Städtische Galerie in Stuttgart (1999) and the Museo Cantonale in Lugano (2001 - 2015). He has also exhibited at the Quadriennale in Rome (1986 - 2005), Bochum Museum (2003), Kunstmuseum in Bonn (2004), Wolfsberg Executive Development Center (2005) and ZKM- Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe (2005 - 2012). Other venues that have welcomed his work include the Franz Gertsch Museum in Burgdorf (2007), Space -1 of the Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati Collection at LAC Lugano (2012), Arkhangelskoye - VII Moscow Biennale in Moscow (2017) and ICAE Armenia in Yerevan (2018).

In Italy, his work has been exhibited at Mart in Trento and Rovereto (2005 - 2023), Museo del Novecento in Milan (2012), Galleria Nazionale d’Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome (2013), at Museo Correr in Venice (2019), at Villa and Collezione Panza in Varese (2009 - 2021), at MA*GA Museum in Gallarate (2022), and most recently at Museo Ca’ Pesaro in Venice (2024) on the occasion of the 60th Art Biennale. Currently, his Over nature installations can be seen at Palazzo Maffei Casa Museo in Verona, while Enlightening Books is on display at the Quirinale for the Quirinale Contemporaneo project. The work Enlightening Grimoires, on the other hand, has been permanently donated to MUVE and is on display at the Fortuny Museum in Venice. In addition, Chiara Dynys is participating in the first edition of Reggia Contemporanea, curated by Cristina Renata Mazzantini and Angelo Crespi, at the Villa Reale in Monza.

Chiara Dynys at Palazzo Citterio: the baroque sea of Once Again

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