UNDER THE BOAT

Bevilacqua la Masa Foundation, Sala del Camino, Giudecca, Venice

20/04 – 20/05/2022

 Under the boat in Sala del Camino on Giudecca Island in Venice gathers the works of an artists’ collective whose practice span from visual arts to music, from dance to performance and actions, or unconventional media as marionette. The project is curated by ANCA Muresan and DANIELE Capra, assistant curators ALINA Petre and IOANA Șerban. The event is the first step of a shows already scheduled at the National Museum of Maps and Old Books in Bucharest, in September 2022, and at Art Museum Craiova, in 2023. Under the boat is organized in collaboration with Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, with the support of Vulcano Agency, Venezia Marghera.

The title of the exhibition refers to the idea of overturning the status quo, and represents both the condition of constant disorientation and urgency in which we live, and the need to reshape the present under the guidance of new rules and according to democratic and participatory criteria. Thus, Under the boat alludes to our need to get back on the boat, with everyone’s effort. The title also alludes to the architecture of the Sala del Camino (the Fireplace Room) where the project takes place. In fact, the exhibition space – located in the former monastery of SS. Cosma and Damiano – is characterized by wooden roof trusses that recall the hull of an overturned boat. Hence, the artists and the visitors are under the same roof, sharing the same urge to imagine a radical change for our society, and to act as a vehicle for it.

Beatrice von Babel is an international artist collective acting in Venice as one complex and democratic organism for the first time. FLORINA Drăguș, MASAO Nakahara, ALINA Petre and PIO Ziltz insinuate the tactile sense of Beatrice and expand her sensitive, flexible skin made in papier-mâché, plaster, wood, painted clay or dioramas. DAISUKE Ishida and SIMINA Oprescu make audible the electronically generated breath of Beatrice. The primary colours and the patterned geometry of ROBERTA Curcă, LOST.Optics and VIRGINIA Toma’s intricate weft of threads hint to the joints and sinews, to the inner tissue system of Beatrice. LEONARD Alecu and WHATISAFULLSTOP (Laura Stanciu)’s series photographs suggest the pristine mind of Beatrice. BERND Kastner, ROBERT Köteles and MARIAN Zidaru make visible the inner time and unending crossroads of Beatrice. Poets ȘTEFAN Manasia and OLGA Ștefan make up the dreams of Beatrice, overlapping longings and melancholy.

Beatrice von Babel was ideally born at Dante’s time, and her name ambiguously deals with the entangled complexity of our condition today, just a step away from catastrophe, and the chance to find a guide indicating a way to go with the commitment of each one. REGINA Ionescu, NOEMI Morocho, GABRIELE Tai, SOFIA Pozdniakova and ISABELLA Sponchiado are voicing Beatrice von Babel, from whisper to scream, from music to noise. SOYA Arakawa, BAPTISTE Bersoux, ISABELLA Moro and OPHELIA Young draw out her dancing limbs through performances, pantomime and marionette. HEDE Bühl, ARON Demetz, IRINA Matthes, ANCA Muresan and VICTORIA Zidaru build up the elusive and expanding body of Beatrice von Babel, her sculptural bones and painterly flesh, getting a grip on the exhibition space. MATEI Contoloru, CLEMENS Botho Goldbach, PATRICIA Morocho and DORIN Ștefan work as her nimble hands, wisely crafting various possibilities of appearance.

20 April – 20 May 2022

opening 20 April, 4 – 9 pm

Monday through Sunday, 11 am – 7 pm

Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa

Sala del Camino, Complesso SS. Cosma e Damiano

Giudecca 620, Venice (I)

boat stop Palanca