In Ravenna the exhibition ‘In the Eternity of the Provisional’ by Jonathan Van Dyke

The slowness of the creative process contrasts with the speed of our time, in which everything flows without leaving time to be understood; in the fragment, an essential element of the composition, “the eternity of the provisional” emerges, to quote the feminist poet Armanda Guiducci (1923-1992). The persistence of the mosaic tile, rooted in tradition and the past, is renewed in the artist’s skilful recomposition, where the family network expands through the fabrics, generating new weaves and new architectures. The installation is completed by the costumes, created for the occasion and made available to the public, who can thus have a direct experience of the work; in fact, each visitor, invited to wear ‘new clothes, becomes an integral part of the composition, helping to reveal the continuous dialogue between intellect, gesture and artistic fruition.

VanDyke’s research moves across multiple registers, escaping definitions and categories, to range from performance to painting, affirming the freedom of his languages. The project is created in collaboration with 1/9unosunove contemporary art. The exhibition has been extended until February 8th and, to close the exhibition, a performance by Jonathan Van Dyke will take place from 4pm to 7pm in collaboration with the performers Gemma Hansson Carbone and Marica Mastromarino who collect and rework the information transmitted by New Yorkers Saba Shabbir and Fred Brown, giving continuity to a process of sharing and circulation of the performative experience created on the occasion of the inauguration. The performance entitled ‘Around this body of mine / Around This Body of Mine’ recalls a verse by the poet Amelia Rosselli (Paris 1930–Rome 1996) and investigates the relationship between bodies and spaces, together with the dynamics of domination, control and submission that often cross it.

Spazio Neutro is a project that offers the public an alternative point of view in viewing and understanding works of art. The museum, in its most classic characterization, and by convention, requires a certain distance from the work for its enjoyment, requires formal composure, asks for silence. The vision of a collection in a museum is always dictated by museological and museographic principles which in this neutral space are overturned, trying to modify the relationship with the works installed there. The project, conceived and directed by Giorgia Salerno, curator and conservator of the Museum’s collections, sees the presence of contemporary artists called to rethink their work in relation to the space and the visitor, providing an alternative way of experiencing the work and fully inhabiting the environment. Furthermore, at the basis of the programming there is the need to address current issues that involve international museums, such as the evolution of the relational museum, the decolonization of collections and generative AI.