April 20–November 27, 2022
Hours: Wednesday–Monday, 10am–6pm. Free entry.
Curated by Alessandro Rabottini and Leonardo Bigazzi.
Fondazione In Between Art Film is pleased to present Penumbra, its first exhibition opening to the public at the Ospedaletto and Church of Santa Maria dei Derelitti in Venice on the occasion of the 59th International Venice Biennale.
Curated by Alessandro Rabottini and Leonardo Bigazzi—respectively Artistic Director and Curator at the Fondazione—Penumbra will feature a series of new video and filmic productions commissioned to Karimah Ashadu (1985, United Kingdom), Jonathas De Andrade (1982, Brazil), Aziz Hazara (1992, Afghanistan), He Xiangyu (1986, China), Masbedo (Nicolò Massazza, 1973 and Iacopo Bedogni, 1970, Italy), James Richards (1983, United Kingdom), Emilija Škarnulytė (1987, Lithuania), and Ana Vaz (1986, Brazil). All eight works are commissioned and produced by Fondazione In Between Art Film, an initiative founded by Beatrice Bulgari.
Taking inspiration from the rarefied atmosphere of Venice and from the hybrid architecture of Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, the exhibition is conceived as a stage where images, sounds, and architectures are in reciprocal dialogue. The concept of “semi-darkness” is explored on two levels: in material terms, the absence of light is the necessary condition for making moving images visible; in metaphorical terms, semi-darkness is interpreted as a threshold that redefines the distinction between true and false, historical memory and personal spectres, the reality of bodies and their social representations, the human subject and the subjugated environment. Through a diversity of languages ranging from narrative approaches to visual and sound experimentations, moving images stand here as a multi-faceted medium to speak of a world that is global, fragmented and in continuous metamorphosis.
Presented within a sequence of areas of darkness and light, the works echo the transformations that the venue faced throughout the centuries, following its foundation in the 16th century as a hospital for the needy. The exhibition design by Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli and his studio 2050+ reflects on the history of the location and spatialize the curatorial concept by looking at the interconnected notions of human and architectural anatomy.
Penumbra will be accompanied by Vanishing Points, a cross-disciplinary public program curated by Bianca Stoppani and Paola Ugolini—respectively Editor and Curator at the Fondazione. Together with curators, researchers, and thinkers, this series of panels, screenings, and performances will involve the artists in the exhibition and look at the material and metaphorical vanishing points that animate their works, while expanding the conversations around their practice.
Penumbra showcases the Fondazione’s mission to promote the culture of moving images and support international artists, institutions and theorists that explore the dialogue between disciplines and time-based media.
For international media enquiries, please contact
Sam Talbot: Matthew Brown, matthew [at] sam-talbot.com / T+44 (0) 7989 446557
For Italian media enquiries, please contact
LARA FACCO P&C: Lara Facco, lara [at] larafacco.com / T +39 349 2529989
Claudia Santrolli, claudia [at] larafacco.com / T +39 339 7041657
Fondazione In Between Art Film was founded in 2019 with a cultural programme focused on the role of contemporary moving images and the support of international artists, institutions, and research centres exploring the dialogue between different disciplines. The Fondazione investigates the boundaries of time-based media—film, video, performance and installation—through commissioned projects, acquisition programmes, and institutional collaborations. The Fondazione furthers the work of the production company In Between Art Film which, from 2012–2019, produced video works for dOCUMENTA 14 in Kassel, the Italian Pavilion at the Biennale Arte in 2017 and 2019, Manifesta 12 in Palermo, Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement in 2016 and 2018 in Geneva. The Fondazione’s commitment to the culture of moving images is also reflected in its support for the film programming of Museo MAXXI in Rome, Tate Modern in London, and Lo schermo dell’arte in Florence.
