how we always survived. Pauline Boudry e Renate Lorenz

The Istituto Svizzero - Swiss Institute is hosting the first Italian solo exhibition by the duo Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz, who have been working in Berlin since 2007. Their work has been recently exhibited in major institutions such as the Crystal Palace/Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne and the 58th Swiss Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. It encompasses sculpture, performance, choreography, music, and film, often combined in immersive installations that challenge the conventions of both the white cube (the minimalist exhibition space of a traditional modern art gallery) and the black box (typical of experimental theatre, performance art and video art).

Conceived specifically for the spaces of Villa Maraini, the exhibition includes new commissions alongside existing works, harmonised within a timed installation that unfolds through the rooms of the villa and explores the doings of sound as a language capable of shaping hope, mourning, and desire in repressive contexts. The title of the exhibition is drawn from a sentence by US activist and former soldier Chelsea Manning, one of the protagonists of the exhibition. It refers to the role music had for her during her time in prison following her conviction for passing a series of state secrets to Wikileaks but also, more in general, as a celebration of queer life.  

In the works on display, voice becomes a means to let forgotten pasts resonate while dance functions as a programmatic tool to guide a collective movement of bodies. The architecture of the villa itself seems to move, participating in the composition through alternating sequences of light and darkness, sound and silence, pause and motion. The result is a grand choreography that engages visitors as they move from room to room, creating a temporary community where political disillusionment coexists with utopian aspiration.