Il Resto di Niente

Review of the new exhibition at Madre Museum in collaboration with Gucci and Interview with Eva Fabbris

Until 29 July, the Museo Madre in Naples is hosting a group exhibition that narrates and connects the multidisciplinary aspects of a living reality. Conceived by Sabato De Sarno, creative director of Gucci, the renowned Italian fashion house, the unprecedented project combines the world of art with that of business, also exploring a psycho-social reaction.
With Eva Fabbris, curator and Museum Director, we delve into the heart of this multidisciplinary project.

EXHIBITION INTRODUCTION

At the heart of the exhibition are the drawings of Aldo Loris Rossi, a revolutionary architect in the shaping and outlining of the structure of the Neapolitan city. Based on these, 12 artists were selected: Vincenzo Agnetti (Milan 1926 – 1981), Giulio Delvè (Naples, 1984), Özgür Kar (Ankara, 1992), Donatella Mazzoleni (Florence, 1943), Franco Mazzucchelli (Milan, 1939), Jim C. Nedd (Italo-Colombian, 1991), Sara Persico (Naples, 1993), RM (Bianca Benenti Oriol and Marco Pezzotta, duo founded in Geneva, 2015), Domenico Salierno (Naples, 1967), Nanda Vigo (Milan, 1936 – 2020), Angharad Williams (Ynys Môn, 1986), and Tobias Zielony… able to emanate and capture through their works the social responses that urban change has unleashed over the years. Each of these artists has materialised a different emotional sphere with their expressive method: some chose a soft and sinuous note, others approached a certain conceptuality, while others brought the reality of solitude, existentialism, and the feeling of entrapment. Past, roots, and the skeleton of a city are concretised in a modern and contemporary discourse. The curator, the museum institution, the creative director, and the entire team have opened the doors to a new way of experiencing art; with interactions from heterogeneous and unexpected fields and roots, the unfiltered voices of a people are gathered.

“The title…captures well the sense of hope, the idea that a seed has been sown, despite everything…”

Vincenzo Agnetti, Ritratto di abitante – Abitato dalle case e dal carattere, 1971 / Franco Mazzucchelli, Catena, 2023 PVC, air
Vincenzo Agnetti, Territorial, 1972 / Vincenzo Agnetti, Paesaggio – La città appariva banalizzata dalle consuetudini e dai saluti, 1972 / Vincenzo Agnetti, Work forgotten by heart, 1972
Jim C. Nedd, Fuorigrotta #2, 2023
Tobias Zielony, Overshoot 6, 2024 / Aldo Loris Rossi, Habitable material: City-structure No. 2, Wroclaw, Poland, 1973 pencil on transparency / Angharad Williams, W Polo II (Typ 86C), 2022
Vincenzo Agnetti, Ritratto di abitante – Abitato dalle strade e dai ricordi, 1971 / Franco Mazzucchelli, Catena, 2023 PVC, air

INTERVIEW

Within a museum context, the human presence and its interaction with the surrounding space play a significant role. In this exhibition, it seems to be an essential part and a necessary complement. Is this indeed the case? How much did human dynamics influence the design phase?

In a museum, as in any art context, human dynamics are central in all phases leading to the realisation of an exhibition. The exhibition object always results from encounters, passions, cultural choices, and political positions. In the case of this exhibition, the design phase follows the ideational phase, which stems from a meeting: that between Sabato De Sarno – with his natural affinity for Madre, his deep interest in brutalism, and his attention to the emotional aspects that characterise human relationships – and my ongoing research on the archive of Aldo Loris Rossi, as well as a line of inquiry that Madre is developing on the changes in Naples’ imagery induced by phenomena like overtourism, and the exhibition-making practice that I share with Giovanna Manzotti.

From a strictly curatorial perspective, what were the criteria underlying the selection of exhibits? Was there a greater practical and managerial influence, or was every detail curated to amplify reflection on space and human response?

The exhibition revolves around figures that create poetic echoes with the concerns that guided Aldo Loris Rossi and Donatella Mazzoleni, his life and architectural design partner during the significant documented creative period shaping their housing utopias. We chose some artists from Rossi and Mazzoleni’s generation and others from younger generations.

“..it’s a completely virtuous example of patronage based on shared content and mutual respect for expertise”

Tobias Zielony Overshoot 1, 2024
RM, A dog, a car, an epidemic of body lice; RATS; Il parco, la panchina, la stazione (all 2024) / Vincenzo Agnetti, Paesaggio – Le strade terminano prima di incominciare, 1971
Tobias Zielony, Overshoot 1, 2024 / Tobias Zielony, Overshoot 5, 2024
Özgür Kar, The Gate 2023

Regarding the themes, the succession of rooms outlines a varied emotional scheme, without a climax or gradual progression, but with different and impactful sensations and themes. Is this a nod to unpredictability and social diversity?

We did not aim for a specific narrative or symbolic thread. We leave evocations to the artworks. The only backbone of the exhibition consists of the 41 architectural drawings, which exhibit a remarkable coherence of style and research, often maintaining intensity and radicalism whether depicting utopian designs or architectural proposals. The layout of the rooms was designed to construct an experiential rhythm that responds differently each time to the stimuli posed by Rossi and Mazzoleni.

Concerning your profession, what does it mean to you to step out of your comfort zone and open up to new horizons? And what do you hope this exhibition will bring for a new cultural scene?

Curating, for me, is inherently tied to research, thanks to continuous engagement with artists and interdisciplinary perspectives on art. I would be pleased if this exhibition contributes to a profound reflection on how imaginations are founded, refounded, and evolve in portraying a complex and layered reality like that of Naples.

In a society where the union of different sectors and fields isn’t always normalised, how did this heterogeneous interaction come about? Are there any taboos or specific concepts that you and Sabato De Sarno, along with the rest of the team, wanted to destigmatise?

This is the first major exhibition fully sponsored by a leading brand at Madre, and in my view, it’s a completely virtuous example of patronage based on shared content and mutual respect for expertise. I believe it can serve as an example to convey an idea of reciprocity between public and private sectors.

As a curator, where do you see your imprint in the stylistic choices? And which aspects of Enzo Striano’s novel (Mondadori) have particularly struck or influenced you?

Alongside Giovanna Manzotti, who co-curated the exhibition with me, I consider the exhibition as a unified organism, so I believe stylistic choices permeate every aspect that characterises it. Regarding “Il resto di niente,” it’s a book that portrays Naples during a phenomenal push for political change (the Neapolitan Republic of 1799), seen through the eyes of a woman. I found this aspect extremely relevant and inspiring.

If you were to describe the essence and soul of this exhibition with an expression, what would you use? One that encapsulates uniquely every distinctive contribution: from the projects of architect Aldo Loris Rossi to the works of each individual artist.

The title “Il resto di niente” captures well the sense of hope, the idea that a seed has been sown, despite everything…

Regarding the selection of contemporary components, namely artists and their respective works, how was the selection process conducted? Were these identities, so disparate from each other, chosen and re-contextualised to emphasise interpretative diversity?

Giovanna Manzotti and I chose artists from diverse geographical backgrounds based on the quality of their work and deep resonance with the themes intended by the exhibition. We aimed to include a wide plurality of artistic languages, as their role was to provide a counterpoint to the essentially architectural backbone of the exhibition.

Giulio Delvè, Carazia, 2020 doors from Carabinieri and Polizia vehicles
Domenico Salierno, Sigarette e Signore, 1998 / Franco Mazzucchelli, Elica, 2023 PVC, air
Casa del Portuale by Aldo Loris Rossi: extractions, 2024 / Aldo Loris Rossi, Study for Casa del Portuale, second lot, Naples, December 31, 1973
Özgür Kar, a guy under the influence, 2020 / RM, You Make the Program for Life. You Make the Program, 2017

Il Resto di Niente

Credits:

Venue: Museo Madre Napoli / @museomadre
Curator and Museum Director: Eva Fabbris / @eva.fabbris
Co-Curator: Giovanna Manzotti / @giovanna.manzotti
Project idea by : Sabato De Sarno / @sabatods , Creative Director of Gucci / @gucci
Interview: Annalisa Fabbrucci / @annalisa_fabbrucci
Editor: Maria Abramenko  / @mariabramenko

Press contacts: PCM Studio / @paolamanfredistudio

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