Deconstruction of the Patriarchal Art World
By Irene Bernardi
ARTIERRANTI is a cultural association born in 2013 based in Bologna, Italy. The main intention of their project is the concept of curation as the primary form of mediation. Each project stems from a close collaboration with the artists and is defined as a unique event. The research is focused on finding amplifiers for the work and the poetics through curating solo exhibitions and seeking collaborations for each artist with experts, organizations, and institutions.
Today Laura Brambilla and Giorgia Casadei are leading the project, which finds “home” at Officina Artierranti, located in the city center of Bologna.
You define yourself as a “Feminist and Woman cultural association.” How do you prioritize feminist values in art and curating within your exhibitions and workshops? Especially today where most curatorial and art positions are held by men!
In 2022, when we dedicated ourselves to redesigning our website, we decided to include the description “a female and feminist association” in our presentation. This is a phrase that we might have found somewhat daring in the past, but today, we have chosen to formally declare our stance, in line with what the art world demands. I always think of Carla Lonzi, an art critic and activist, who wrote in Autoritratto: “When I learned that feminism existed, I didn’t even bother to find out what it was, I am a woman, I do feminism.”[1]
Perhaps the same has happened to us. Naturally, our research gravitated towards feminism, opting not only to give more space to female artists but also to promote works that would foster debate, to continue questioning the role we have played throughout history and the space we wish to claim today.
An important topic in your curatorial footprint, is the synergy with spaces where you decide to have an exhibition: not a simple “white cube” but places where we can see a strong relationship with the artist, poetics, and artworks. What criteria do you use when selecting unconventional locations for art exhibitions? Can you give some examples from past exhibitions or projects?
Initially, the choice to be nomadic was determined by our lack of a stable location. When we founded Artierranti in 2013, we were still students at the Academy of Fine Arts, quite uncertain about our future, and it seemed best not to commit to managing a space we would struggle to maintain. For this reason, Giorgia and I envisioned a nomadic association, capable of moving and transforming in response to the artist and the project. This curatorial approach stood in stark contrast to the white cube, which tends to eliminate any form of contamination, a thought that believed (and still believes) that every artist and every poetic requires a proper place of resonance.
This, of course, had direct consequences such as the choice to hold only solo exhibitions, besides the fact that, from a logistical standpoint, moving always to unconventional places not intended for exhibitions imposed many more limitations in terms of setup. Over the years, we have searched for places that were increasingly consistent with our research project, even from a content perspective. Consider, for example, what we did with Guido Volpi at the Luigi Fantini Museum of Speleology or, for instance, with Susana Ljuljanovic at the Cassero – Gender Identity Documentation Center in Bologna. In these projects, not only did the location become an integral part of the research, but it also served as a code for understanding the project.
How do you reconcile reflecting on past experiences and planning future projects inside and outside Officina Artierranti?
In 2016, we decided to establish a physical headquarters for the Association. This idea stemmed from the fact that our wandering made it difficult to identify and recognize Artierranti. We wanted to showcase what we had been able to build in the early years by creating a hub where we could meet artists, construct, and store all the staging supports created by Giorgia, and also collect artworks donated by artists who had collaborated with us. Thus, Officina Artierranti was born with the dual soul of an archive and a workshop, facilitated by the presence of a street-level floor with a display window and a basement. In constructing this new phase, we set a rule for ourselves: Officina Artierranti would never become an exclusive exhibition venue, but we would continue to seek other places to set up exhibitions to create increasingly conceptual connections with the city. Collaborating with various local entities has allowed us to create solid relationships that persist.
I would like to talk about the latest exhibition at ART CITY 2024 in Bologna, I SWALLOWED A BUTTERFLY, a solo exhibition by Italian artist Adele Dipasquale. The exhibition focused on the role of sound as a cultural and patriarchal tool. How does this concept contribute to the exploration and subversion of patriarchal power dynamics within Dipasquale’s works?
Meeting and delving into Adele’s work was extremely interesting. When we [encountered] their videos, we were deeply fascinated by the imagery. But each image is a gateway to a complex universe of references to history, mythology, and literature that show how the education we receive from early childhood is fundamentally patriarchal. In Adele’s work, the most apparent trait of this female subordination is addressed through sound: the female protagonist decides to emit all possible sounds, including the guttural and monstrous ones attributed from Aristotle onwards to the female gender, thus losing her own voice. In this way, achieving a state of silence becomes an exercise in freedom.
What I have seen as a “red thread” among many of the recent exhibitions is how the feminine tries to regain the freedom that has been taken away from it, partly because of the many superstitions and attributions throughout history.
Certainly, we deliberately chose to open Adele Dipasquale‘s curatorial text with a quote from the essayist Nicoletta Polla Mattiot, which says, “There is no conviction more deeply rooted than the cliché.”[2] Reflecting on the past two years of work, I realize that we have traversed different worlds and cultures, from Greek mythology to Mexican mythology before and after Spanish colonization. We have encountered powerful female figures, both real and imaginary, who, precisely because of their great power, have been gradually forced to inhabit increasingly small and controlled spaces, eventually becoming figures of the abyss, often monstrous and horrific. In this way, in Noemi Mirata‘s exhibition, the myth of Proserpina encountered Gloria Anzaldúa’s “Borderlands,”[3] finding strong correspondence with the goddess Coatlicue: two women who inhabit the borderlands and contain within themselves the power of life and the power of death.
What advice would you give to someone who is taking their first steps into the world of curation?
We are well aware that working in the arts, especially in Italy, means struggling. Often, we have chosen to self-fund our projects rather than spending unpaid work hours trying to access some form of funding, so the best advice we can give is to always have fun first and foremost. Finding pleasure in one’s research is crucial in order to offer quality work. Another important aspect is to always strive to build a relationship of equality and ongoing exchange with artists, which is one of the most interesting aspects of our work. Finally, I believe that today it is essential to choose how to position oneself and consequently propose exhibitions that are consistent with one’s research line, without running the risk of becoming overly didactic.
Can we have a little preview about your next project?
We are currently following several projects. First, we would like to conclude the trilogy about gender/boundary with a final exhibition by a female artist. At the same time, we are planning the next exhibition to be proposed within Art City Bologna 2025. Additionally, for some time we have been thinking about a much broader project dedicated to the relationship between women and nature, involving various artists who have collaborated with us over the years. In this case, we would like to somewhat disrupt our patterns, perhaps thinking as a curatorial collective…however, at the moment we do not want to reveal too much!
You can find more information about Artierranti on their Instagram or Facebook.
[1] Carla Lonzi, Autoritratto. Accardi, Alviani, Castellani, Consagra, Fabro, Fontana, Kounellis, Nigro, Paolini, Pascali, Rotella, Scarpitta, Turcato, Twombly, Abscondita, Milano, 2021
[2] Nicoletta Polla Mattiot is an Italian essayist and journalist.
[3] Gloria Anzaldúa was an American sociologist and writer of Chicana, feminist, and cultural theory.