Embodied Histories / Musenga Nhoroondo
Peter Musami, Mukudzei Muzondo
May 25 –July 20, 2024
Marta Czok Foundation, Venice
Under the patronage of the Embassy of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Embodied Histories brings the work of Zimbabwean artists Peter Musami and Mukudzei Muzondo to Italy for the first time. Through a selection of previously unseen works created especially for the occasion, Embodied Histories explores themes of memory, trauma and cultural heritage in the intricate context of Zimbabwe's tumultuous history, setting in the context of the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia curated by Adriano Pedrosa Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere.
Richly reminiscent of Shona cultural background, Musami and Muzondo’s artistic visions converge and diverge, forming a poignant discourse on the body as a vessel of trauma, a theatrical landscape of scars, yet simultaneously a spiritual site of healing and reconciliation.
Muzondo’s work is characterised by a striking figurative storytelling embodied with both historical and personal references. Through densely layered compositions, his powerful depiction delves into the struggles and resilience of a scarred nation, while uncovering the intricate interplay between socio-political historical events, memory, and tradition, all shaping Zimbabwe contemporary cultural identity. In his work, lingering echoes of colonialism permeate the cultural confrontation with the oppressive Western capitalist system, where the voices of non-dominant cultures are drowned out by the shadow of a still tangible colonial past.
The complex non-linearity of trauma is portrayed by Musami’s textured large collage works. Intertwined with political undertones, these works evoke an emotional landscape where the past and the present overlap, as if echoing a fragmented psyche dealing with traumatic experiences. A mosaic of layered memories retraces the artistic process of tearing, cutting and subsequently assembling each fragment into a new wounded yet vibrant composition, where the artistic expression is transmuted into a symbolic act of healing.
Through the convergence of Muzondo’s figurative symbolism and Musami’s abstract expressionism, this exhibition invite viewers to navigate a multifaceted contemporary narrative deeply embedded in the scarred history of Zimbabwe. The exhibition is accompanied by a digital catalogue featuring a critical text by Alice Montanini and unpublished interviews with artists Peter Musami and Mukudzei Muzondo, curated by Valerie Sithole, curator at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Mutare. The publication, richly illustrated, will be in a bilingual format, Italian and English.
Exhibition curation and design by Alice Montanini
A project by Zerial Art Project
Supported by Marta Czok Foundation
Flashbacks is an exhibition curated by Alice Montanini that retraces the most important stages of BUILDING’s artistic research and promotion, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of its birth.
Central to Flashbacks‘ investigation is the moment of the exhibition, here conceived as a medium, mirroring the relationships and dynamics generated between the work, the artist and the gallery space, which flow into the more complex sphere of that system of critical and aesthetic categories that are at the basis of BUILDING’s curatorial approach and programming.
An open-door reinterpretation of the gallery collection, presented in the spaces of BUILDINGBOX at irregular intervals and visible 24/7.
Among the exhibited artists: Giovanni Campus, Roman Opalka, Vincenzo Castella, Jan Fabre, Remo Salvadori, Vincenzo Agnetti, Leiko Ikemura.
Private Exposure: Physical Awareness and the Mutuality of the Gaze
April 27, 2016–June 22, 2016
me Collectors Room, Berlin
Private Exposure is a site aware exhibition in response to the me Collectors Room building, where the glass-fronted, open architecture of the space offers visitors multiple lines of sight and in the same moment puts them on display. Connecting across the two levels of the building and out onto the street, this exhibition emphasises and magnifies the acts of watching and being watched. What ordinarily is a private encounter with a work of art is here exposed to the public gaze.
Varying in medium and genre, the featured works evoke the power of the gaze and engage with their tangible presence, generating in the viewer an awareness of their physicality whilst occupying space in the gallery.
As a society we have never been more surveyed, from CCTV in the street, mobile phones that track movement to the information freely shared online, we are constantly exposed. Everyday observations are amplified in an art gallery where the act of looking is focused, becoming dominant. Private Exposure invites the gaze outside the limitations of the exhibition space as the works selected are reaching beyond their medium, opening a dialogue, gripping the viewer and challenging our encounter with art.
Feaured artists: Marina Abramović, Barry X Ball, Jeremy Blake, Don Brown, John De Andrea, Rineke Dijkstra, Charles Fréger, André Gelpke, Paul Graham, Victor Guidalevitch, Nicky Hoberman, John Isaacs, Johannes Kahrs, Alicja Kwade, Leigh Ledare, Zoe Leonhard, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Tony Oursler, Evan Penny, Gerhard Richter, Pipilotti Rist, Zbigniew Rogalski, Gino Rubert, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Timm Ulrichs, Erwin Wurm, Jian Zhang
The exhibition is curated by Fabiola Flamini, Eilidh McCormick, and Alice Montanini.
A fully illustrated, bi-lingual exhibition catalogue has been published through argobooks.
Dialogues of Space.
Heeseung Chung and Onejoon Che
December 15, 2015–February 6, 2016
Korean Cultural Center UK, London
Dialogues of Space combined a selection of photography works by Korean contemporary artist Onejoon Che and Heeseung Chung, offering examples of two artists' investigation into notions of physical and metaphorical space.
Onejoon Che’s precise and analytical photographs of architectural structures, abandoned urban sites and buildings provide a conceptual counterpoint to Heeseung Chung’s intimate and poetic interiors, opening up a discourse on human presence and its echoes through cityscapes. Sparking a discussion of the role of photography in the representation of society, Dialogues of Space highlights the skill and versatility in contemporary art from Korea.
Dialogues of Space has been curated by Alice Montanini, Anna Viani, Antonio Terzini and Emma Warburton and coordinated and mentored by curators of the Whitechapel Gallery.
Leonardo Meoni | Reveries in velvet and concrete
December 2020
Zerial Art Project
Leonardo Meoni’s digital solo exhibition Reveries in velvet and concrete is the second appointment of the Online Exhibition Series project curated by Alice Montanini.
This exhibition gathers a selection of recent works belonging to the Velluti and the Concrete Tapestry series, both realized between 2019 and 2020.
Paolo Cervi Kervischer | in the dusk
October 2020
Zerial Art Project
Paolo Cervi Kervischer: in the Dusk is a virtual exhibition presented by Zerial Art Project and curated by Alice Montanini.
This event marks the first appointment of the Online Exhibition Series, a cycle of solo shows featuring various artists represented by the gallery.
All the exhibitions are accessible online via our website and social media platforms.
Private Exposure
December 2015
Strand Gallery, London
The group exhibition Urban Intimacy showcased the works of international artists Anna Capolupo, Noumeda Carbone, Yasmine Dainelli and Taida Jasarevic. Encompassing introspection and language, travel exploration and self discovery, the exhibited works explored the constant friction between an individual and their surroundings in defining identity and a sense of belonging.
The exhibition was presented by Cromoflix art community and curated by Alice Montanini and Tarik Berber.
PROTECHT
March 2015
Bank Space Gallery
Showing at The Bank Space Gallery PROTECHT was an exhibition co-curated by Matilde Biagi, Ines Costa, Fabiola Flamini, Alice Montanini and Antonio Terzini, in partnership with the Whitechapel Gallery and the CASS Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design.
The show brings together national and international artists who in very different ways present the screen as our ever-present shelter for facing the world. Throughout a wide range of mediums comprising photography, sculptures, video, and installations, the show investigates our relationship with the screen and the impact it has on our everyday life, questioning both the extent and the consequences of this reliance.
The exhibition comprised works by Pamela Breda, Daniela Brenna, Sophie Bullock, Jack Davis, Matthieu Delourme, Katrin Hanusch, Peter Hoiß, Alexander Isaenko, Jamie Jenkinson, Christine Lucy Latimer, Emily Lazerwitz, Ines Marques, Theo Tagholm, Sam Treadaway, Nara Walker, Roland Wegerer, Jack Williams and Dawn Woolley.
