For the first time Virgilio Villoresi exhibits a solo show in Forlì, which can be visited from 28 August at the Dino Zoli Foundation. The exhibition will be open until 7 October and will act as a prologue to Ibrida Festival delle Arti Intermediali (scheduled from 8 to 10 September in the spaces of EXATR, Forlì).
The exhibition is made up of three sections: the first is entirely dedicated to the artist’s devices, including several mechanical flip-books and a polarized light installation; the second to the Visions, through the display of objects and scenographic elements connected to looping sequences on the monitors; the third with a “medley” of Villoresi’s films, lasting about 60 minutes, includes short films, television theme songs, commercials and music videos.
Virgilio Villoresi, self-portrait, courtesy of the artist
The itinerary, produced by the Vertov Project and PubliOne Società Benefit in collaboration with the Dino Zoli Foundation, was entirely curated by the historian of moving images Bruno Di Marino. “Virgilio is a cinema and audiovisual craftsman, he will catapult us in a surprising way made up of unpublished constructions, devices and films” underline Francesca Leoni and Davide Mastrangelo, Artistic Directors of Ibrida. “The Animagia exhibition already from the neologism of the title wants to evoke the phantasmagorical aspect of animated cinema, to which Villoresi has always looked” explains the curator Bruno Di Marino. “His refined and experimental animation uses different techniques often making them interact simultaneously – from drawing to animation of objects, from shadow cinema to decoupage – building sets and surreal theaters where two-dimensionality intertwines with three-dimensionality, revealing the playful and unconscious side of its creator”. A link, therefore, between the city of Forlì and intermedia art that is truly intense and which branches out and spreads more and more every year. To find out more and explore certain aspects of Animagia, I decided to get in touch with the artist, who warmly welcomed and answered my questions.
Virgilio Villoresi, Trompe l’oeil, 2016, detail, ph Luciano Paselli, courtesy of the artist
Sara Papini: How did the idea of the exhibition come about?
Virgilio Villoresi: I was contacted by Davide Mastrangelo and Francesca Leoni from Vertov Project. They asked me to exhibit at the Zoli Foundation which welcomed my exhibition with great enthusiasm. The chosen works are a careful selection of my kinetic devices from the last 10 years. We thought of a magical and dreamlike journey inside my optical instruments. Inside the exhibition spaces you will savor the folds of the design of the past and you will come to touch, and even to evoke, the flavor of the game and of the wonder subtracted from the dust of vintage objects that I make reborn through movement.
Virgilio Villoresi, Faire de son mieux, 2014, ph Luciano Paselli, courtesy l’artista
The Animagia exhibition already intrinsically contains in its name the magical aspect of animated cinema, one of your research fields since ever. Would you like to tell us more about it?
Stop motion animation cinema itself has a distorted, flickering movement… well, it is precisely the error, the distance from a real dynamic that suggests this settling process whereby the image appears in a fascinating, handcrafted, ghostly, fluctuating dimension that makes this artistic discipline magical.
Virgilio Villoresi, Trompe l’oeil, 2016, particolare, ph Luciano Paselli, courtesy l’artista
For the first time you are exhibiting your machines in Forlì, a place that has been making a name for itself on the national scene for many years as the capital of intermedia and video art. What was it like collaborating with the city but also with local associations and foundations such as the Vertov Project and the Dino Zoli Foundation?
I am really very happy to bring my solo show to Forlì and collaborate with people who appreciate art at the highest levels. A process that for me was completely natural. They immediately conveyed to me their desire to bring my vision, my imagination to this city and I am truly grateful..
The vernissage, presented by the Curator Bruno di Marino and the artist Virgilio Villoresi, will be held on 28 August at 7 pm at the Dino Zoli Foundation. An event you can’t miss!
Info:
Virgilio Villoresi. Animagia. Dispositivi, visioni, Film.
28 August – 7 October 2023
from Tuesday to Thursday, from 9.30 to 12.30 / from Friday to Sunday, from 9.30 to 12.30 and from 16.30 to 19.30.
Fondazione Dino Zoli,
Viale Bologna 288, Forlì
Free entry
http://ibridafestival.it/
She was born in Genoa but currently lives in Bologna, the city where she graduated from CITEM with a thesis on video art. She works in the world of events in the production sector and is an assistant professor of Visual Studies at UNIBO.
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