Pneuma
Digital Vernissage and Guided Tour
PNEUMA
On the Immateriality and Intangibility
of mental illness
Friday, 27 March 2020 7:00 pm Instagram LIVE
Online Exhibition at www.state-studio.com
Berlin, 22 February 2020
CREDIT: CHRISTIAN FOGAROLLI, 2020, PNEUMA, TRACTOGRAPHY ON THE BRAIN OF THE ARTIST. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND CIMEC - CENTER FOR MIND / BRAIN SCIENCES, ROVERETO / TRENTO
Winner of the Italian Council project (2019), Christian Fogarolli’s Pneuma focuses on the immateriality and intangibility of mental illness by analyzing various geographical and cultural contexts, questioning the stigma and categorization created by political, corporate and state systems. Fogarolli’s work is an attempt to bring to light the entire spectrum of subjectivity behind diagnoses, which otherwise risks remaining untold. The Pneuma project set itself apart thanks to its intent to unhinge normative attributions of mental deviance and forms of taxonomy canonized by modern medical theories and western archival methodologies. Beginning at Law 180, which reformed the psychiatric system in Italy in 1978 and the Helsinki European Declaration of 2005 on mental health, Fogarolli developed preliminary research and subsequently maintained a collaboration with some of the major European psychiatric institutions, establishing a firm relationship with the people who live and work in these places. He seeks to challenge, thanks to their help, the classification processes of mental disorders and the consequent marginalization of the individual. His various travels, research residencies, collaborations in ten different countries and immersion into multiple European realities led the artist to the conception of a project which consists of several immersive works, ideated and put together as a result of having cooperated so closely with people in care, medical personnel and researchers in different fields. The countries involved are Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, England, Romania, Czech Republic. Leading this groundwork, Fogarolli has developed an exhibition path, which encompasses a multi-media, environmental installation, that interacts with glass sculptures and a video piece, created in collaboration with brain research institutes such as the CIMeC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, Rovereto and the King's College in London.
The project will be presented in different places: at STATE Experience Science in Berlin, at MARe
Museum in Bucharest, at Schwarzescafé at Löwenbräukunst in Zürich and at MAMbo - Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna. Fogarolli encourages visitors to focus on the details of the articulated universe of mental health, revealed through the collaboration and experiences shared between patients and the artist.
At the end of the exhibitions, a catalog will be published including essays written by those from both the medical and artistic fields. It will also include a series of unpublished images that will chronologically retrace the project’s preliminary research on a geographical journey. A series of pneumaevents, laboratories, seminars, conferences, and screenings will be hosted by international partner institutions: medical research centers, universities, academies, associations, and centers for mental health treatments.
The final works will then become part of MAMbo - Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna’s permanent collection.
Digital-Only Opening Program:
Opening on 27 March, 7 pm
7 pm Introduction by the Curator Giulia Busetti via Instagram Live
PNEUMA will be showcased online starting Friday, March 27, from 7 pm through interviews, footage, and virtual tours via www.state-studio.com. Due to the current situation, the exhibition can only be visited by the press and upon previous request via jw@state-studio.com.
More Information
Background
Christian Fogarolli is an Italian artist born in 1983. He obtained a Master's degree in study, diagnostics, and restoration of modern and contemporary ancient paintings at the University of Verona in 2010 and obtained a specialist degree in Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the University of Trento.
His research is underpinned by the relationship between art and scientific theories and disciplines and how the latter have made use of creative means to lead to progress. His works often try to question the links between normality and deviance, the relationships between different species and how these are categorized within the public and private heritage, which the artist himself then attempts to discover, analyze or enhance. His work process often involves the current historical research and different means of expression, such as environmental installations, photography, sculpture, video.
The results of his research have been displayed in events such as dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel (2012); the Mart, Museum of Modern and Contemporary art of Rovereto (2013); The Maison Rouge in Paris (2014); Museum of the Foundation Miniscalchi-Erizzo, Verona (2015); De Appel arts centre of Amsterdam (2015); 5th Moscow International Biennale (2016); the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow (2017); Gaîté Lyrique of Paris (2017); Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin (2017); Mart - Galleria Civica di Trento (2014-18); Les Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles (2018); MAXXI, the National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome (2018); Fortuny Palace, Venice (2018); Musée de Grenoble (2019); Musée d’histoire de la Médecine, Paris (2020). He recently received research and residency awards at the College of Physicians and Mütter Museum of Philadelphia and Futura center for contemporary art in Prague (2018). In 2019 he received the prestigious Italian Council award granted by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism.
Pneuma
a project by Christian Fogarolli
Project supported by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism under the Italian Council program (2019).
Exhibitions of the research project
STATE Studio, Berlin, March 20 - May 2, 2020
MARe Museum, Bucharest, April 24 - May 15, 2020
Schwarzescafé at Löwenbräukunst, Zürich, May 22 – 31, 2020
MAMbo - Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, 2020/2021
Promoting partners
TRA - Treviso Ricerca Arte, Treviso
CIMeC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, Rovereto
Pneumaevents
Italian Institute of Culture, Tel Aviv
TRA - Treviso Ricerca Arte, Treviso
CIMeC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, Rovereto
Accademia di Belle Arti di Verona
Dipartimento delle Arti - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna
IED, European Institute of Design, Venice
STATE Studio, Berlin
Museum recipient of the work
MAMbo - Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, permanent collection
Internal collaborators
Giulia Busetti, freelance curator, Zürich
Giulia Colletti, Public Programs Castello di Rivoli, Turin
Sabrina Comin, Direction of TRA - Treviso Ricerca Arte, TrevisoGabriele Lorenzoni, curator of the Mart, Museum of Modern and Contemporary art of Rovereto
Graphic Design
Multiplo, Padova
Pneuma Catalogue
Grafiche Veneziane
Thanks to
Galerie Alberta Pane, Paris / Venice
Galerie Mazzoli, Berlin / Modena / Düsseldorf
Partners
TRA – Treviso Ricerca Arte, Treviso
CIMeC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, Rovereto
Italian Institute of Culture, Tel Aviv, Dipartimento delle Arti - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Accademia di Belle Arti di Verona, IED, European Institute of Design, Venice, STATE Studio BerlinMARe Museum, Bucharest, Schwarzescafé at Löwenbräukunst, Zürich, MAMbo - Museo di Arte Moderna, Bologna, AGI Verona Collection, Verona, Istituzione Gian Franco Minguzzi, Bologna, Free Space project, London, The Perspective Project, London, Jonas Onlus, Trento, Florence, Varese, Palermo, Genoa, Psicoradio (Arte e Salute Onlus) Bologna, Milan, Associazione Nuove Arti Terapie, Rome, Amabiotics, advance microbiome medicine, Paris ,PsicoArt - Associazione di Psicologia dell’arte APS, Art & Mind, film production, London
Press office
Lightbox, Alessandra Bellomo alessandra@lightboxgroup.net – +39 041 24 11 265
STATE Studio, Johanna Teresa Wallenborn – jw@state-studio.com