The President of Fondazione Donnaregina per le arti contemporanee Angela Tecce and the Artistic Director of Madre Museum Kathryn Weir are pleased to invite you to the opening of the exhibitions „Clément Cogitore - Ferdinandea“ and „Beauty and Terror: sites of colonialism and fascism“, curated by Kathryn Weir, which will take place from 6-9pm on Thursday 23 June.

„Ferdinandea“ is a new body of work by Clément Cogitore, presented in international premiere at the museo Madre, that speculates, through 16mm film, video, photographs and historical documents, on the rise and fall of an ephemeral volcanic island that appeared in Mediterranean waters between Sicily and Tunisia in 1831. The result of a submarine eruption, the island quickly became the theatre of geopolitical rivalry, before again disappearing only six months after its first appearance. Today, dormant eight meters below the waves, Ferdinandea could at any time emerge again as a result of further seismic activity. Cogitore orchestrates premonition, observation, metaphorical insight and fiction to consider what this tale may tell us of our current plight and our possible futures. 
Exhibition organized with POC funds (PROGRAMMA OPERATIVO COMPLEMENTARE) 2021 Regione Campania.
The works by Clément Cogitore presented in the exhibition have been realized with the support of Institut Français, Fondazione Nuovi Mecenati, Noirmontartproduction, Arter and Chantal Crousel Consulting.
 
„Beauty and Terror: sites of colonialism and fascism“ takes off from Naples in the late 1930s and 1940s to present research-based artworks that respond to little discussed events, architectures and archival materials. Underlining the geographical and temporal overlay of stories rarely told together, the project explores through the eyes of contemporary artists and critical thinkers the history and contemporary legacy of the interconnected violence of colonialism and fascism, as well as the philosophical, aesthetic and iconographic apparatuses that subtend both. A program of seminars, workshops and performances further expands the critical inquiry of the exhibition project. 

Beauty and Terror: sites of colonialism and fascism is presented in collaboration with Goethe-Institut di Napoli. The public program of the exhibition is organized in conjunction with the Centre André Chastel (Sorbonne Université), Paris; the Mostra d’Oltremare, Naples; the Recovery Plan, Florence; and Villa Romana, Florence.

Curated by Kathryn Weir.

Film Still: Clément Cogitore: „Ferdinandea #0“, 2022.