The Enea Righi Collection is a pure act of love for art and humanity, an expression of authentic collecting, not merely as a collection of works, but as a profound investigation of the human being, the identity of the self, through emotion, relationships and exchanges with others. The concept of the “double,” inspired by Alighiero Boetti and symbolized by the imperceptible conjunction “and”, permeates the entire exhibition, suggesting a tension between opposites, structuring a show with an alternating yet harmonious rhythm, uniting dualities expressed also through the relationship between large installations and small details. Thanks to the curation by collector Lorenzo Paini and the Museion team, the Enea Righi Collection is not just a mere exhibition of objects to observe, but an opportunity for introspection and dialogue with universal themes such as time, memory, the body and relationships with others. It offers not only a message and dialogue with the spectator but also an invitation to contemporary collecting, a call to the personalism of research and self-expression through relationships.
“AMONG THE INVISIBLE JOINS. Works from the Enea Righi Collection”, exhibition view Museion 2024. Photo: Luca Guadagnini
The collection unfolds over four floors of the Museion in Bolzano, following a rhythmic path between fullness and emptiness, evident right from the ground floor, where the presence of imposing installations such as those by Parreno, Hirschhorn, Weiner and White, alongside reflective works by Walid Raad and Jason Dodge, explore the theme of existence. This theme, alongside Roni Horn and Atiéna R. Kilfa, becomes a consciousness of self and body, culminating in the installation by Franz Erhard Walther, which serves as a stage for performance. On the staircase leading to the second floor, we encounter “off-screen” details: the true protagonists of the exhibition. On one side there is Damning Evidence Illicit Behaviour Seemingly Insurmountable Great Sadness Terminated in Any Manner (2014) by Cally Spooner, a variable-message panel in which the comments of some social media users are cyclically displayed – unheard voices symbolizing the present and absent, brought back to life through the performance sung during the opening. On the other side is the video In-out Antropofagia (1973/74) by Anna Maria Maiolino, which, through the censorship of an unknown figure’s mouth movements, foreshadows the more markedly socio-political character of the next floor.
“AMONG THE INVISIBLE JOINS. Works from the Enea Righi Collection”, exhibition view Museion 2024. Photo: Luca Guadagnini
Here, we come into contact with the floor sculptures by Lothar Baumgarten, accompanied by wall works by Ana Lupaş, Anna Maria Maiolino, Roman Ondak, Martha Rosler, Nairy Baghramian and Walid Raad: powerful inquiries into the dualism between the individual and the world, a conjunction of macro and micro, between History and personal stories. Walid Raad stands out with a photographic series on the Lebanese civil war. A grainy pattern, reminiscent of confetti or fireworks, obscures the image and evokes memories of bombs that, as a child, his mother described as fireworks to shield him from reality. Historical and personal memories, vivid and unforgettable traces, emerge in the dispersed installation by Anna Boghiguian, which is accompanied in the background by the denied “voice-over” from Theaster Gates‘s video work Billy Sings Amazing Grace (2013), as well as from Ain’t Misbehavin’ (2022) by Sonia Boyce, reflecting on slavery and folk singing: a protagonist present and absent in history, and in this case, in the exhibition.
“AMONG THE INVISIBLE JOINS. Works from the Enea Righi Collection”, exhibition view Museion 2024. Photo: Luca Guadagnini
The geopolitical references are evident, even in the work of Alighiero Boetti, which serves as a juncture for the collection that breaks the dense rhythm and allows us to delve into the core of the adjacent artist book section. Alongside Boetti, the rhythm is also alternated by scattered ready-mades and assemblages by Alex Ayed. These works maintain a connection to specific geographical contexts while simultaneously playing with the surrounding space, blending in and forcing us to return to the exhibition dimension. These imperceptible notes also populate the third floor, where detail becomes the protagonist. A still life with shells by Giorgio Morandi is accompanied by a small work once again by Alex Ayed, while next to it hangs a photograph by Luigi Ghirri of one of the shells in Morandi’s studio, paired with an assemblage by Michael E. Smith. They are surrounded by two photographic series by Cy Twombly, which capture marginal details usually hidden from visual experience, brought to the forefront here. The same is true for the shoes by Narkevičius, the suitcases by Zoe Leonard, and the windows by Adam Gordon: common private details from everyday life.
“AMONG THE INVISIBLE JOINS. Works from the Enea Righi Collection”, exhibition view Museion 2024. Photo: Luca Guadagnini
Continuing, we encounter a more intimate installation by Tom Burr, associated with an intimate photograph by Nan Goldin. This is a portrait of Susan Sontag, composed of forgotten objects transformed into art, a work that reveals the private and transitory dimension of the self, the passage and human traces. This theme culminates in the work of Ser Serpas – an artist who investigates transitional space and brings the marginal to the center – in this case, juxtaposed with works by Dorothy Iannone, Sturtevant and Eric N. Mack. The alternation of rhythms leads us through a passageway where time expands and becomes the absolute protagonist thanks to On Kawara‘s book One Million Years (1999), accompanied by the “off-stage” sound that marks the time year by year, like the 101 portraits by Hans-Peter Feldmann of friends and relatives arranged in order of age. The sense of helplessness is mitigated by the sculpture Self-portrait as Emperor Hadrian Loving Antinous (2012) by Francesco Vezzoli, a work in which physical presence is the protagonist – as seen in the subsequent corporeal and tactile works by Dora Garcia, June Crespo and Ana Mendieta – as well as in the exchange of glances – a theme echoed in the works by Roni Horn, Akram Zaatari, Mapplethorpe or Trisha Donnelly, juxtaposed with more conceptual works by Stanley Brouwn, Hans Haacke, Zoe Leonard, Jason Dodge, etc.
“AMONG THE INVISIBLE JOINS. Works from the Enea Righi Collection”, exhibition view Museion 2024. Photo: Luca Guadagnini
In this context, ours is an eternal presence and absence, but what we leave lies in the junction, as it signified by the doors made by Roman Ondak and Jef Greys, directed everywhere and nowhere, yet present. This presence manifests in the sculptures by Neil Beloufa, Giulia Cenci, Sidsel Meineche Hansen, Shahryar Nashat, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Michael Dean, Yu Ji, Francisco Tropa and Clemens von Wedemeyer, placed on the museum’s top floor under dim light. They constitute a reflection on the body – the remnants and evolution of humanity – and co-star in the central installation that imposes itself upon us, composed of beams and lights, created by Massimo Bartolini. The dimming and brightening in alternating rhythms definitively indicate our appearance in space-time, like a flash in eternal repetition. A bolt from the blue, much like the devilish laugh and “off-stage” sound of De Dominicis that accompanies the inscription D’io (1971).
Info:
AMONG THE INVISIBLE JOINS. Artworks from the Enea Righi Collection
28/09/2024 – 02/03/2025
MUSEION, Bolzano
https://www.museion.it/it/
Matteo Giovanelli (Brescia, 1999) is an art historian and young curator. After getting two degrees in Cultural Heritage and Art History at the University of Verona, he developed a dynamic professional profile. He has collaborated with contemporary art galleries, assisting in the curation of exhibitions and participating in prestigious exhibition projects and international fairs. He writes art reviews and criticisms, contributing to offering a critical and in-depth look at the contemporary art scene.
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