Curva Blu is INCURVA’s artist residency programme. Curva Blu unfolds in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, on the Island of Favignana, a diverse natural environment, a territory of exploration and discovery.
Its specificity and peculiar location intend to harmonise with the artists’ processes and researches.
The project aims to offer a place for artists who search a totally unique condition, where geographical, historical, and social peculiarities can become source of inspiration, base for experimentation, new dialogues and exchange.
The second edition of Curva Blu, held in September and October 2017, focuses on the dialogue between artists and the territory.
Seeing the concept of dialogue as a dialectical form of encounter and exchange, in this second edition the curators invited Beatrice Marchi (ITA) and Massimo Grimaldi (ITA); Trisha Baga (USA) and David Horvitz (USA).
The artists are invited to use the time offered on the island to research and deepen themes and processes already present in their work, whilst being contaminated by the other artist’s presence and the specific characteristics of the territory.
By using each practice’s process and discourse as creative point of departure we wish to initiate new forms of artistic production focused on collaboration encouraging also new critical perspectives and visions.
Marianna Vecellio and Attilia Fattori Franchini
September 2017
Beatrice Marchi (b. 1986, Italy)
“Lives between Italy and Germany, where she completed a Master at Hochschule für Bildende Künste (HFBK). Her practice revolves around the personal issues of being a woman, born in a traditionally patriarchal country as Italy, and a practicing artist. The intersection between these definitory characteristics and a subjective approach to their exploration, allows Marchi to enquire each of these positions in a larger sense, offering a sharp commentary on gender stereotypes, localism and the question of professionalisation in art and life. Spanning across drawing, painting, sculpture, animation, sound and performance, Beatrice’s work has a camp attitude. It does not respond to any medium specificity, but it takes form accordingly to the socio-cultural context it portrays. Often having an improvised or low-fi outlook, the characters Marchi constructs and personally performs are ambiguous, punctuated by irony, but also open to change and interpretation”. Text by Attilia Fattori Franchini, CURA., June 2017
Massimo Grimaldi (b. 1974, Italy)
His art takes the form of photographs, installations, performances and digital slide shows, through which the artist reflects on the production criteria, the general response and circulation of images. He examines the role of the artist in society and the way in which art is perceived and interpreted. Grimaldi reflects on the evocative power of representation and on the system of relationships that images trigger within their context.
«In a world invaded by images, Massimo Grimaldi’s questions his task. He concentrates on the specific qualities and the problems of artistic languages, he does not entrust art with a privileged role in society but instead sees in it the possibility of immersions in the uncertain fabric of thought. The artist adopts recurrent terminologies: ‘opacity’, ‘hybridization’, ‘arbitrariness’, ‘inexpressiveness’. The image must represent form; form must emerge as a collection of characteristics, the totality of which is absorbed in complete indifference.
“My works – says the artist – are not roaring tigers, but rather the quicksand that swallowed them down.” The sculptural works, or graphic objects such, up to the most recent digital installations, arouse a sense of dissatisfaction and incomplete comprehension. The saturated, manipulated images become illegible, the result of numerous variations, the expression of a vertigo caused by the cancellation of any original identity and the account of what the artist calls a “melancholy of an image, lost in the infinite possibility of images.” Marianna Vecellio
October 2017:
Trisha Baga (b. 1985, USA)
“Trisha Baga is a young artist working mainly in video and performance. Her approach is open and intuitive, with a homespun aesthetic that might incorporate screen effects, recordings of herself singing layered over soundtracks, scenes spliced together and improvised props. Picking up on chance constellations of objects in her bedroom, or familiar images cast in a new light, she is interested in the “common things” that surround us, using these to guide phenomenological compositions about the act of looking and recognising, and the potentiality that might lie in the gap between. Her work could be said to foreground distraction as a methodology: With an approach to narrative that recalls the logic of browsing online and hyperlinks, she allows herself the space to drift, notice and find”. Text from Claire Bishop, ArtForum.
David Horvitz (b. 1981, USA)
The Japanese-American artist David Horvitz lives and works in Los Angeles. After studying at UC Riverside he graduates at Bard college. His practice combines different mediums: from art books to installations, from performances to photography, from drawing to mail art, through which he produces – besides the most traditional works of art – posters, stamps, internet ads, press releases, exhibitions in shoes boxes, web pages and other invisible actions. His references are Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader, Japanese On Kawara, conceptual art and fluxus movement from which he quotes melancholic atmospheres, the fluid and existential dimension of time, psycho-geography and linguistic irony. He dismantles the role of the artist by reflecting on the concept of recycle, authorship and property and fosters the free circulation of his works on the web by opening himself and his work to universal possibilities of reality.
Among the main personal exhibitions are Eridanus, Galerie Allen, Paris in 2017;Ja, Chert gallery, Berlin and Oui, galleries Yvon Lambert, Paris in 2016; Gnomosat the New Museum in New York in 2014. His work has been included in numerous collective exhibitions at important institutions including Crac Alsace, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Tate Modern London, Palais the Tokyo in Paris (opening in October 2017).
Marianna Vecellio – chief curator
Curator, researcher, and writer is an art historian. In 2012 she has been appointed as curator at Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli/Torino – where she works since 2007. She has curated various exhibitions and publications such as Andres Serrano’s Via Crucis, Massimo Grimaldi’s Before The Images, Paloma Varga Weisz, Rachel Rose, Cecile B. Evans, Ed Atkins, Anna Boghiguian, Hito Steyerl and Cally Spooner and edited monographic catalogs such as John McCracken and Luigi Ontani. She collaborates to numerous editorial projects with particular attention to historical research in the compilation of chronological and anthological histories. She is currently working on the exhibition and publication of Michael Rakowitz in collaboration with Whitechapel, London, the exhibition of Marianna Simnett and the project with Pedro Neves Marques all opening at Castello di Rivoli in fall 2019. Her research is focused on transdisciplinary projects in which critical thought and artistic practice coexist such as Abitare il Minerale and currently Comp(h)ost with Witte de With, Rotterdam. From 2009 she is in the committee board of Public Art of the City of Torino. She has contributed to numerous Italian and International magazines. Working on Curva Blu since 2016, for INCURVA, Marianna also curated Sivilization’s Wake by Stephen G. Rhodes and Barry Johnston (Palermo, 2018).
Attilia Fattori Franchini – curator
Attilia Fattori Franchini is an independent curator and writer based in London and Milan. She is cofounder of the nonprofit platforms bubblebyte.org and Opening Times and contributes essays and reviews to international publications such as Mousse, CURA, and Flash Art International. She has been working at Curva Blu since its inception in 2016. Attilia is currently curator of BMW Open Work by Frieze (since 2017); the Emergent section of miart, Milan (since 2017); and directed the latest edition of the Termoli Art Prize, Italy (2018). Recent projects include Could you visit me in dreams? as part of curated_by 2018, Vienna, (2018); Red Lake at Point Centre for Contemporary Art, Nicosia (2018); and ARS17+ at Kiasma, Museum, Helsinki (2017).
Past projects include: Meshes of the Afternoon, Roman Road, London (2017); Céu Torto, Boatos Fine Arts, São Paulo (2017); Morning uber, evening oscillators, Seventeen, London (2016); Europa and the Bull at LambdaLambdaLambda, Pristina, Kosovo (2016); Oa4s, Temra and David in 4 parts, Sorbus, Helsinki (2016); Yves Scherer, Snow White and The Huntsman, Mexico City (2016); Kuvan Kevät, Kuvat Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki (2015); Bold Tendencies, London (2015); and HAND, Barbican Centre, London (2013).
For more info: http://attiliaff.com
Saturday 30 September 2017:
5pm Beatrice Marchi and Massimo Grimaldi Open Studio at Ex Stabilimento Florio, Favignana. More info about the event.
Saturday 11 November 2017:
11am A walk with David Horvitz, Piazza Europa, Favignana.
6pm Trisha Baga Temporary Installation visit, Cava Cavallo, Favignana. More info about the event
Sunday 12 November 2017:
6pm Artist talk Trisha Baga and David Horvitz at Museo San Rocco, Trapani. More info about the event
Images from the open studios available below
Curva Blu studios are set in the wonderful estate of Museum Ex-Stabilimento Florio delle Tonnare di Favignana e Formica.
Reaching Favignana
INCURVA’s is here to help you out reaching Favignana, so don’t hesitate to contact us. Find below some travel tips
Favignana is 30 minutes hydrofoil ride away from Trapani’s port. There’s at least 10 rides per day, you can use www.libertylines.it to check out timetable or book
Distance to Trapani’s port:
From Trapani’s Airport:
– 30 min drive – contact us for information about a taxi service (about 30 EUR)
– buses are frequent (10 EUR) and drop you at the port
From Palermo’s Airport:
– 60 min drive: contact Michelangelo Transfer for private car +39 335 82 25 215 (about 75 EUR)
– 60 min bus: only 4 buses per day, timetable here
– 2 hours bus: go to Palermo first (with bus 5 EUR, with taxi 30 EUR, with shared taxi 7 EUR) and hop-off at Via Belgio Bus stop, from there hop on a bus to Trapani, timetable here
From Palermo’s port:
– 70 min drive or 90 min with bus, there’s a bus every hour.
Rail: unless you want to enjoy and long trip, we discourage taking the train
In Favignana
Trasportation once in Favignana:
– Rent your car/bike/scooter at Infopoint, big red building just off Favignana Port
– There’s many taxi services on the island
Recommended hotels (our friends!):
– Baglio Sull’Acqua
– Casa al mare
– Hotel Cave Bianche
– Hotel delle Cave
Recommended house rentals (our friends!):
– Rosario’s houses https://www.airbnb.it/users/2151311/listings
– Davide’s houses www.favignanacasa.it
Heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped and experienced Curva Blu in 2017: ChertLüdde, Downs & Ross, Société, ZERO…, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea San Rocco (TP), Alessandro Agudio, Alessandro Di Giugno, Antonio Lo Presti, Calogero Gammino and the Museum’s guide, Don Liborio, Ela Horvitz, Fabio Pantaleo, Fausto Brigandino, Federica Romano, Felix Gaudlitz, Gaetano Di Martino, Gaspare Ernandez, Giuseppe Fazio, Giuseppe Pagoto, Luigi Biondo, Manuela Trapani, Margherita Amabile, Peppe Nnue, Pina, Renato Alongi, Rosario Riginella, Silvio Balistreri, Vincenzo Ritunno, Zanna Gilbert, and all the INCURVA members.
Curva Blu is supported by our forward-looking technical sponsors:

and Bar del Corso
Curva Blu is made in partnership with the following institutions:

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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