In July 2017, Emiliano Maggi, supported by INCURVA, worked in Trapani (Sicily) alongside maestro Platimiro Fiorenza, one of the last living masters of coral artisanry.
This experience directly informed the production of a series exhibited, among other works, at Animal Palace,Emiliano Maggi’s solo show at Museo Civico di Castelbuono curated by Laura Barreca and Valentina Bruschi, Aug 11th -Nov 4th 2017.
The exhibition aims to deepen some of the key themes of Emiliano Maggi’s artistic research, related to emotional participation, symbolism, the mystery of ancestral nature, myth and popular iconography. These are investigated by the artist through an original creative research that interlaces different media such as performance, sculpture, visual and sound experimentation. After a period of residency in Sicily, working closely with the local artisans, Emiliano Maggi created a new series of sculptures in ceramic and coral, working in Trapani with Platimiro Fiorenza, one of the most important masters of Sicilian coral work. These sculptures are freely inspired by the iconography of the plaster decoration by Giacomo Serpotta and his workshop in the Palatine Chapel of the Ventimiglia Castle in Castelbuono, home of the Museum. An articulated project, set up thanks to the collaborative work with INCURVA, a cultural association for the promotion of research and production in contemporary art.
The opening of the exhibition will start with a performance which will leave at 12.00 am, noon, from Castelbuono’s main central road, in front of the fountain of Venus Ciprea (XVth century), which once decorated the entrance of the ancient Ypsigro. The “happening” will involve the musicians of the Associazione Culturale Ensemble Luminis Musica of Castelbuono, interpreters and authors of ancient, medieval and Renaissance music. The musicians will begin a bizarre and joyful “parade” through the streets of the town, accompanied by the actors of the cultural association Neuroninatto, who will carry some of the sculptures created by the artist and will wear masks, costumes and some props resulting from the children’s activities of the Museum’s educational workshops. The Luminis’ fairy-tale music repertoire and the free improvisation of the actors will interact with the surreal works of the visionary Roman artist, resulting in an “animalistic” ceremony where music, theater and dance converge in a dimension of great participation and collective empathy. The procession will end at the Castle where the sculptures and the ceramic and coral masks will be installed for the exhibition. Part of these sculptures will be donated by the artist to the permanent collection of the Museum.
Finally, for the fourth consecutive year, during the evenings of the concerts of the main stage of the Ypsigrock Festival (11-12-13 August) a video by Emiliano Maggi will be projected onto the facade of the Ventimiglia Castle of Ventimiglia, transforming the architectural monument into a huge and evocative visual surface.
For this exhibition, the artist directed a series of educational workshops with children at the Museum, assisted by Vera Carollo and Stefania Cordone, to produce some of the masks and other items used for the parade.
The Museo Civico di Castelbuono wishes to thank for their precious collaboration: the musicians of the Ensemble Luminis Musica (Giuseppe Aiosi, Emanuele Antista, Alessandro Barrovecchio, Aldo Castiglia, Sergio Leta, Davide Sottile) and the actors of the cultural association Neuroninatto, Platimiro Fiorenza, the ceramic laboratory Castelbuonoarte, Lorcan O’Neill Gallery and Operativa Arte Contemporanea, Rome.
The Museum also wishes to thank for their support: the Hotel Sphere – Palermo, Grand Hotel delle Palme, Villa Catalfamo – Cefalù, Fattoria Mongerrate – Isnello, Hotel Paradiso delle Madonie, the b&b Donjon and the Cin Cin bar in Castelbuono.
Finally, we thank Silvia Macchetto for her invaluable collaboration towards the communication of the exhibition.
Emiliano Maggi (Rome, 1977) lives and works in Rome. His multifaceted artistic research has always been able to combine psychedelic scenarios with mythological symbolism, ritualism and rural iconography made of fairy tales and dreams to hypnotic horror Italian settings of the ’70s. All told with a multifaceted production ranging from performance to jewellery design, from the highly acclaimed music project, Estasy, to photographic and pictorial works. Amongst the solo shows: Duet Duell, performance, Palazzo Zambeccari, Bologna, 2017; 5 mostre, American Academy in Rome, 2017; Secret in the Carbon Atom, Podium, Oslo, 2016; L’Albero della Cuccagna, Certosa di Padula, Salerno, 2016; Choral Spectral (performance), Lorcan O’Neill Gallery, Rome, 2016; Levitate!, Q21, Vienna, 2015; La scrittura degli echi a cura di NERO, MAXXI, Rome, 2015; Il Museo delle Palme, L’A Project Space, Palermo and Operativa Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Orto Botanico, Palermo, 2015; The Nymph Song, Mona Museum, Tasmania, 2014; The Draftmen’s Congress, Swiss Institute, Rome, 2013; Moon Ra, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 2012.
INCURVA wants to thank

Diego Marcon – The Parents’ Room
The Parents’ Room is a project by Diego Marcon presented by INCURVA and one of the winners of the 7th edition of the Italian Council call promoted by the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of of MiBACT. The project, in 2020, entails the production of the movie The Parents’ Room, that will become part of Madre – museo d’arte contemporanea Donnaregina’s permanent collection. The film is part of Marcon’s research aimed at investigating the representation of reality through the destructuring of the cinematographic language and its most popular and codified genres. More info
Beatrice Marchi at Casa Masaccio, Italy
Shot in Favignana in 2017, Friends in a promo through which Loredana, the female clown with claws, recruits dancers for one of her upcoming shows. Beatrice Marchi has given life to many hybrid and double, comical and dissolute, vulnerable and noble characters which have been brought together and reactivated in her show at Casa Masaccio in 2019.
Francesco Pedraglio at OGR, Torino, Italia
+390918420027 is a 1: 100 scale calcarenite maquette of a specific point of the Bue Marino calcarenite quarry.The public can activate the work by calling the carved number and listening to a story by Francesco Pedraglio. Artissima Telephone encouraged reflection on the point of passage between landlines and mobile phones, exploring the way social practices have changed since the introduction of factors of mobility (space) and simultaneity (time).
Dominque White at Kevin Space, Vienna
Conceived in July 2019 on the Italian island of Favignana for Curva Blu 2019, Ruttier for the Absent hung precariously as a beacon on the cusp of the Mediterranean Sea at Punta Marsala in the shadow of an abandoned lighthouse where the found materials—a sail, rope and dried palm fronds—had first been heavily mutilated by the artist, then destroyed by the force of the Mediterranean Sea. Translated into the white gallery space, the sculpture has now been manipulated by the artist with kaolin clay, a naturally occurring white clay often found on sculptures from Central and Western Africa as an act of cleansing and protecting the work from the exhibition space. Text Kevin Space
Lupo Borgonovo at Museo Civico di Castelbuono
Babi 1 (2016), Babi 2 (2016) and Babi (2016) are the very first artworks produced at Curva Blu since the programme began. The three sculptures were produced by Lupo Borgonovo in Favignana and are now showed at ZEESTER, Lupo Borgonovo’s solo exhibition at Museo Civico Castelbuono (Palermo) on view 8th August 2019 through 29th September 2019. More info
Margherita Raso at Sgomento
Kore (2019), produced by Margherita Raso during Curva Blu 2019 , is part of the group show “Le Monde Ou Rien” organized by Sgomento in Naples (More info). During her residency in Favignana, Margherita Raso learned limestone sculpting with local sculptor Benito Alessandra at his “Giardino Incantato”.
Unknown Friend shortlisted for Mario Merz Prize 2019
Congratulations Stephen G. Rhodes and Barry Johnston for being shortlisted for the 3rd Mario Merz Prize with Sivilization’s Wake, co-produced by INCURVA. Learn more and cast your vote on mariomerzprize.org
Trisha Baga at Greene Naftali, New York, USA
Congratulations Trisha Baga for her solo show at Greene Naftali (NYC), also featuring the cave footage shot during Curva Blu 2017. More info
INCURVA at Supercondominio, Castello di Rivoli, Italy
INCURVA has been invited at Supercondominio, a gathering of new contemporary art spaces in Italy promoted by Castello di Rivoli and its research department, the CRRI. More info about the event
8 July 2018
David Horvitz at Loom Gallery, Milan, Italy
Some of the works conceived during the Curva Blu 2017 residency are on show at Loom Gallery, more info here.
9 May 2018
INCURVA aims at making western Sicily a fertile ground for research in contemporary art, re-activating its public spaces and stimulating dialogue with its local communities through a platform for residencies, talks and exhibitions. Established in 2016.
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