Peggy Franck in Bologna transforms Palazzo de' Toschi into a fluid space

From Feb. 4 to March 2, 2025, the Sala Convegni Banca di Bologna in Palazzo De’ Toschi hosts In a Naked Room, the solo exhibition of Dutch artist Peggy Franck (Zevenaar, 1978), curated by Davide Ferri. The event is part of the ART CITY Bologna 2025 program, promoted on the occasion of Arte Fiera, and marks a new chapter in Franck’s expressive research, in which painting, installation and photography intertwine to create an immersive experience. At the center of the exhibition is the painterly mark, a hallmark of the artist’s research, characterized by free, fluid and multidirectional brushstrokes that evoke abstract expressionism and recall the masters De Kooning, Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler. Franck paints horizontally and vertically, making use of heterogeneous tools that amplify the movement and gesturality of the stroke. His painting does not stop at the surface of the canvas, but expands into space, involving walls and architectural surfaces, often encompassing even the most marginal areas of the environments in which he works. In a Naked Room was born out of a profound dialogue with the space of the Convention Hall. The room, usually intended for institutional functions, is here transformed into a bare room, stripped of all representational elements. The bank hall loses its official connotation to become a more intimate and lived-in, almost domestic place. The exhibition develops through a process of layering signs and surfaces that tell the story of the relationship between body, matter and space.

During the month of January, in preparation for the exhibition, Peggy Franck worked directly inside the Convention Hall, creating a large pictorial surface on aluminum sheets. The intervention generated a kind of new floor superimposed on the existing one, a carpet of colors and shapes interacting with the natural light coming from the large windows of the hall. The reflection of light on the painted surfaces creates a shifting effect that changes according to the visitors’ movements, putting the viewer’s body at the center of the composition. The interplay between two- and three-dimensionality is a fundamental element in the artist’s research. His brushstrokes, applied on reflective materials, can expand in space or compress to the point of cancellation in the photograph. The installation also includes photographic images of existing paintings and snapshots of the newly created aluminum surfaces, elements that combine into an ever-changing macro-composition. The exhibition is sponsored by Banca di Bologna, which has been supporting contemporary art exhibition projects since 2015, with a focus on dialogue between Italian and international artists. In a Naked Room fits into this path, offering a reflection on painting as a spatial device and on art’s ability to transform the environment in which it manifests itself.

“It is complicated to try to define Peggy Franck’s work by fixing it within the limits of an unambiguous definition and a specific medium,” says curator Davide Ferri. “Her practice may have an elusive and elusive character: expanded painting, installation, sculptural vocation? Or just painting, painting as an imprint of individuality, whose frame is the whole space? Painting, sculpture and photography coexist in her work and in relation to each other, as equivalent terms, allowing her to compose an image by moving between different combinatorial possibilities and reversible actions.”

Notes on the artist

Peggy Franck, born in Zevenaar in 1978 lives and works in Amsterdam. Her artistic practice lies between painting, installation and photography, placing the relationship between the image and the space in which it takes form at the center of her research. His works are often created in situ, through interventions that modify the exhibition environment and create new connections between material and immaterial elements. He has exhibited in numerous international institutions, including CFAlive in Milan, Club Solo in Breda, Arcade in London, Stigter van Doesburg in Amsterdam, the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, and the Alice Folker Gallery in Copenhagen. He has participated in art residencies at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin.

Practical information

Opening hours during ART CITY Bologna 2025

Feb. 5, 6: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Feb. 7, 9: 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Feb. 8: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Opening hours after ART CITY Bologna 2025

Saturday and Sunday: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Free admission

Peggy Franck in Bologna transforms Palazzo de' Toschi into a fluid space

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.