On the occasion of the 22nd Giornata del Contemporano, Palazzo Bentivoglio is once again opening some of the building’s least-visited spaces to the public. For this edition, visitors will be able to access the palace’s 16th-century cellars, which house ‘Ipogea’ (2021), a permanent installation by Chiara Camoni (Piacenza, 1974).
The work was commissioned by Palazzo Bentivoglio and originated from the discovery, in the building’s cellars, of a pile of stones and architectural fragments dating from various phases of its construction and subsequent renovations. Camoni used these elements to construct a sequence of four “rooms,” enriching them with works created from materials gathered in the palace garden: soil, leaves, flowers, branches, and ash. The path gradually leads to a small space where the stones are arranged along the walls to form the great coil of a ‘Serpentessa’.
In continuity with ‘Ipogea’ – whose second room houses a minimalist library of Camoni’s references, from Piranesi to Riegl – the entrance hall of the basement will host publications dedicated to the artist’s research, so that the public can browse through them. This selection will allow the physical and environmental dimension of ‘Ipogea’ to be complemented by a selection of Camoni’s writings and texts that have accompanied and explored her work over the years, highlighting the role that writing, both her own and that of others, plays in her artistic practice.
The exhibition will also feature Francesco Carone’s ‘Memorie del sottosuolo’ (2021), which replaces a brick in one of the cellar pillars with a copy of Dostoevsky’s novel, an installation that establishes a direct connection with the bEB, the art history library housed on the main floor of Palazzo Bentivoglio.
