NP-ArtLab presents Stargazers I and Stargazers II, two group exhibitions which develop respectively in the gallery spaces of Padua and Milan and bring historicized artists into dialogue with exponents of the contemporary panorama. The works, created with different mediums, turn their gaze towards a single theme: astronomy.

The Stargazers project, conceived by Neri Pagnan (NP-ArtLab), originates from the proximity of the Padua gallery to the Specola, home of the Astronomical Observatory as well as one of the most critical research facilities of the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF ), a representative symbol of the city and its history, and with the Department of Astronomy. Through two exhibitions, the continuous suggestions derived from these places have triggered the choice to tell the fascination that human beings have always had for the universe, the science that studies its manifestations, and how artists find nourishment in the mysteries of the celestial vault and its powerful aesthetics.

Stargazers I opens the reflection in the Padua venue with a selection of works that address the themes from different points of view: Serena Gamba, Natale Addamiano, Matteo Nasini transport us inside sidereal surfaces, while John Torreano, Silvia Mariotti, Serena Vestrucci, Antonello Ghezzi engage in dialogue with the material and translate its role and meaning, in search of suggestions that transpire from the universe. Visions that meet with the famous lunar surfaces of Giulio Turcato and the multifaceted Tony Dallara. At the centre of the exhibition space is the work by the Antonello Ghezzi duo entitled Alla Luna, a treadmill whose display shows the distance that separates us from the Moon. The interactive installation invites you to participate actively in a collective space mission.

The second part of this exhibition, Stargazers II, takes shape in Milan in collaboration with Martelli Fine Art. Also, in this case, the gallery venue plays a fundamental role in developing the reflection on the link between art and astronomy: Palazzo Cicogna, which housed Lucio Fontana's studio for a period. Of the vast production that characterized Fontana's research, two works from the 1950s suggest Stargazers II. The exhibition opens with an installation that reproduces the pattern of the Galassia Fabric, created in 1955 (altered colour), combined with a blotting paper from 1953 that anticipates its aesthetics and an impressive variant printed on silk that refers to the celestial constellations. Alongside these works, there are new looks between matter and light that become sky with Mirella Bentivoglio, Antonello Ghezzi, Paolo Icaro, Silvia Mariotti, Matteo Nasini, Takis, and Eugenia Vanni, in a succession of spatial surfaces. The installation by Giovanni Oberti completes the display, which accompanies the entrance corridor towards the main room.

Stargazers I (Padua) and Stargazers II (Milan) represent a dialogue between knowledge in which science and art come into firm contact, demonstrating how two different disciplines can contribute to a transversal reading of the universe.

The project is accompanied by a text by Annika Pettini.  

IT




ARTISTS 

Natale Addamiano
Tony Dallara
Serena Gamba
Antonello Ghezzi
Silvia Mariotti
Matteo Nasini
John Torreano
Giulio Turcato
Serena Vestrucci  

ARTISTS BIOGRAPHIES

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