VENICE.- Neither Nor: The challenge to the Labyrinth is the title of the exhibition, curated by Milovan Farronato for the Italian Pavilion at the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in which three Italian artists are taking part, presenting completely new works along with ones from the past: Enrico David (Ancona, 1966), Chiara Fumai (Rome, 1978 – Bari, 2017) and Liliana Moro (Milan, 1961).


The subtitle of the project alludes to “La sfida al labirinto” (“The Challenge to the Labyrinth”) a seminal essay written by Italo Calvino in 1962 that has been the inspiration for Neither Nor. In this text the author proposes a cultural work open to all possible languages and that feels itself co-responsible in the construction of a world which, having lost its traditional points of reference, no longer asks to be merely represented. To visualize the intricate forms of contemporary reality, Calvino turns to the vivid metaphor of the labyrinth: an apparent maze of lines and tendencies that is in reality constructed on the basis of strict rules.

Interpreting this line of thought in an artistic key, Neither Nor – whose Italian title, Né altra Né questa, already uses the rhetorical figure of the anastrophe to disorientate – brings up to date an artistic project of ‘challenge to the labyrinth’ that takes Calvino’s lesson on board by staging an exhibition whose layout is not linear and cannot be reduced to a set of tidy and predictable trajectories. The lines of approach and interpretations offered to visitors are multiple and copious, so that the exhibition gives them the chance to play an active role in determining the route they will take and thereby confronts them with the result of their own choices, accepting doubt and uncertainty as inescapable parts of knowledge.

The calendar of cultural events includes a series of talks; the first will take place on the 18th of June with the participation of the artists Enrico David and Liliana Moro. The filmmaker Anna Franceschini has been entrusted with the documentation of the exhibition, which takes the form of an experimental short film with the title Bustrofedico (‘Boustrophedon’). Produced by In Between Art Film and Gluck50, it will be shown in Venice at the end of the exhibition.

A programme of educational activities aimed at the young students of academies and dance schools, promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Art and Architecture and Urban Peripheries (DGAAP) of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, will also be organized. The series of meetings, curated by Milovan Farronato, Stella Bottai and Lavinia Filippi, will be held in the spaces of the Italian Pavilion.

The exhibition will be open to the public until Sunday 24 November 2019.