MAMbo's exhibition season opens with the group show AGAINandAGAINand.

From January 23 to May 3, 2020, MAMbo - Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna presents AGAINandAGAINand, the group exhibition with which the museum opens its exhibition season.

Curated by Lorenzo Balbi with the curatorial assistance of Sabrina Samorì, the group show will be held in the Sala delle Ciminiere and will be one of the main projects of ART CITY Bologna 2020. Visitors will be able to admire the works of seven of the best-known contemporary artists: Ed Atkins, Luca Francesconi, Apostolos Georgiou, Ragnar Kjartansson, Susan Philipsz, Cally Spooner, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul; the common theme will be the loop, repetition and cyclicality in contemporaneity, seen from different aspects, particularly the sociological, the philosophical and religious, and the ecological. From the sociological point of view, the exhibition aims to look at the impact of new technologies and new systems of work organization on the psychological and physical life of human beings; from the philosophical and religious point of view, it takes inspiration from forms of knowledge and beliefs based on holism, reincarnation and temporal cyclicality, while from the ecological aspect, the exhibition proposes models of production and consumption based on a renewed awareness of rural culture.

The artists, from various parts of the world, testify to how in today’s art there is a reflection on time and forms of knowledge and power. Their works offer performance, video, sculpture, painting, photography and installation.

Apostolos Georgiou (Thessaloniki, 1952) makes paintings depicting women and men in working and domestic environments characterized by an alienating atmosphere, where the repetitiveness of work and family life is felt.

Ragnar Kjartansson (Reykjavík, 1976), in his work Bonjour (2015), transforms everyday life into a play, so far presented only at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris between 2015 and 2016.

In DRAG DRAG SOLO (2016), Cally Spooner (Ascot, 1983) proposes temporalities in which the body is subjected to rhythms different from those practiced in the everyday. The work is part of a research on themes such as info-sphere and chrono-normativity.

Luca Francesconi (Mantua, 1979) starts from an interest in ancient rural culture, folk rituals and agrarian knowledge to construct works through the juxtaposition of multiple elements that refer to tools, objects and animals of the rural world.

For Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Bangkok, 1970), cyclicity also underlies the concept of reincarnation: it creates connections between a past of religious traditions and beliefs and the traumas caused by the destruction of environments and communities.

Safe Conduct (2016) by Ed Atkins (Oxford, 1982) is a video installation whose images capture footage of airports explaining to travelers the procedures they must follow to pass through security. The work expresses the state of anxiety and vulnerability caused by screening in public and private spaces: a feeling emphasized by Ravel’s Bolero.

The group show opens and concludes with the audio work Guadalupe (2005) by Susan Philipsz (Maryhill, Glasgow, 1965). Installed in a passageway of the museum, the work refers to being foreign and the feeling of estrangement. Disorientation is generated by the loop recording that allows the viewer to immerse themselves in a sound environment that seems to spin incessantly.

For info: www.mambo-bologna.org

Hours: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. On the occasion of ART CITY Bologna 2020: Friday, Jan. 24 and Sunday, Jan. 26 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 25 from 10 a.m. to midnight.

Image: Ragnar Kjartansson, Bonjour (2015, first performance as part of the exhibition Seul celui qui connaît le désir, Palais de Tokyo, Paris) Ph. Credit Justine Emard

MAMbo's exhibition season opens with the group show AGAINandAGAINand.

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