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Museo Novecento
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Curated by Daphne Vitali
Museo Novecento is pleased to present from February 17 to April 28, 2024, the extraordinary exhibition of London-based artist Alessandra Ferrini, entitled “Unsettling Genealogies,” curated by Daphne Vitali.
Artist and researcher, Alessandra Ferrini pursues a practice that reflects on the legacies of Italian colonialism and fascism, focusing on the relations between Italy, North Africa and the Mediterranean area. Unsettling Genealogies is an articulated and multifaceted project, a critical investigation into the history of Italian cultural institutions initiated by the artist in 2020. The investigations focus on the colonial and fascist origins of some institutions and their founders, combining personal insights and stories with historical and theoretical reflections, in an attempt to emphasize the affective dimension of history. In Unsettling Genealogies, Alessandra Ferrini interweaves a series of family stories with an investigation of colonial history, social class, European imperialism, and the fascist legacy. The work takes its cue from a photograph depicting Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, an Italian businessman and politician, at the opening of the 1935 Third Venice International Film Festival.
In Unsettling Genealogies, the artist interweaves a series of family stories with a reflection on social class, colonial history, European imperialism and Fascist heritage. The work takes as its starting point a photograph depicting Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, an Italian entrepreneur and politician, at the opening of the Third Venice International Film Festival held in 1935. In this edition of the festival the Volpi Cup was introduced, awarded to the best actress and actor, which was named after Volpi di Misurata, then president of the Venice Biennale and a leading figure of the Fascist National Party, who had also served as finance minister for Mussolini. The Volpi Cup is still awarded today, despite bearing the name of an Italian Fascist politician.
Alessandra Ferrini (Florence, 1984) is a London-based artist and researcher. Experimenting with the hybridization of the documentary film, her research questions the legacies of Italian colonialism and Fascism. She is the winner of the Maxxi Bvlgari Prize 2022 and of the 2017 Experimenta Pitch Award at the London Film Festival, she has shown her work internationally,including at: De La Cruz Gallery (Washington DC, 2024), KØS Museum (Denmark, 2023), 5th Casablanca Biennale (2022), ar/ge kunst (Bolzano, 2022, solo show), Manifesta 13 Paralléles du Sud (Marseille, 2020), Sharjah Film Platform (UAE, 2019), DEPO (Istanbul Biennal collateral, 2019), Manifesta 12 Film Programme (Palermo, 2018), Villa Romana (solo show 2019), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Turin, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022). She is a PhD candidate at the University of the Arts London. Alessandra Ferrini is invited to the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia curated by Adriano Pedrosa.
