Immersion in Baths: fourteen emerging artists in dialogues with Bagni Misteriosi

The Bagni Misteriosi venue in the former Caimi pool connected to the Teatro Franco Parenti, is decidedly fascinating. That combination of old and new, of refurbished and seemingly abandoned, with History peeping forth from the layers of plaster, is the backdrop to a group of works by young artists who traverse, in the same way, different art mediums and languages – painting, with a work by Marta Spagnoli, the youngest, and installation, large dimensions, and small works and sounds; plus a series of events that distinguish the exhibit until mid-May. A very curated exhibition – perhaps, too curated.

Among the twelve artists selected there are three duos and two collectives. This is a phenomenon that, though in no way new, calls to mind the legendary duo Gilbert & George, or groups from the ’60s and ’70s, and is more and more embraced by the art market as well. This “teaming up” reflects an attempt to leave behind authorship, even more powerful in the case of collectives, whose destiny rarely lasts over time but bears witness to processes of art language elaboration that incarnate a need for collectivity that is today, once again, urgent.

The installation Sogno, sorrido, cammino, piango by Raluca Andreea Hartea, in the central hall, in a real game of mirrors that alters perception, speaks about a relationship with books that transforms us/them. But perhaps the most poetic works lie outside the magical spaces. In the underground rooms, the two-channel video installation 55, by Valentina Furian, contrasts an alarmed barking dog with a small country home that is burning down, generating anxiety, impossibility. Similarly, on the terrace the duo Antonello Ghezzi, with the work Alla luna, an installation with a treadmill upon which visitors can walk and take part in a group process approaching our satellite, offering a Don Quixote-esque effort of walking to the Moon, all together. Finally, an equally poetic work is Birdwatcher I by the duo Lisa Dalfino & Sacha Kanah, another invited by Treti Galaxie, a collective of guest curators, and one more, where a strange mass of blues and greens, perfectly in synch with the water in the pool and the sky, is uncertain whether to grow like a lichen or decompose.

Opening image: on the left, Pool, Campostabile, 2019, on the right, Cionco, Ornaghi & Prestinari, photo by Melania Dalle Grave e Agnese Bedini per DSL Studio.