A Video by Elisa Giardina Papa at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt

Elisa Giardina Papa’s video work, U Scantu: A Disorderly Tale, will be screened on June 26 at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt as part of their weekly film program, Double Feature.

“Elisa Giardina Papa is an Italian artist whose work explores gender, sexuality, and labor within the context of neoliberal capitalism and the Global South’s frontiers,” reads the press release. “Her current work documents how past and present forms of capitalism have progressively depleted all capacities for work and life — including sleep, affection, and emotion — and instead focuses on all that in our lives cannot be grasped, translated, or calculated. Her film U Scantu: A Disorderly Tale (2022, 13'06'') presents a reinterpretation of the Sicilian myth of the ‘donne di fora’ (‘women from outside and from beyond themselves’). These women were described as both magical and criminal and were said to combine the feminine and the masculine, the human and the animal, the benevolent and the vengeful.”

other exhibitions

all the exhibitions

exhibition05 June 2025 Francesco Simeti in the group show Material Witnesses at the American College of Greece in Athens Francesco Simeti is taking part in the group exhibition Material Witnesses, curated by Tamara Chalabi, at the American College of Greece in Athens, from June 5 to July 12.

Clay and textile—two of humanity’s most ancient and eloquent materials—serve as profound witnesses to human experience. Through impression, weave, and mark, these materials preserve intimate traces of touch and intention, creating permanent records of gesture across time. This exhibition brings together ten contemporary artists from the Mediterranean, Middle East, and their diasporas who harness these materials’ inherent capacity for memory and testimony.

Francesco Simeti’s deeply layered works draw on social, philosophical, and environmental discourses, particularly exploring water’s dual nature through site-specific digital collages and textile installations. Through layered imagery that incorporates historical and contemporary sources, his works map the transformation of natural landscapes, using fabric’s inherent mutability to reflect on ecological shifts and human intervention. exhibition26 May 2025 Geneva art gallery L'Appartement presents Claudio Massini at June Art Fair in Basel For the June Art Fair 2025, L’Appartement is pleased to present a solo exhibition of rare paintings made between 2004 and 2010 by the Italian artist Claudio Massini. These historical works showcase his hallmark technique across various media: intimate panel pieces rendered in mixed pigments on marine plywood are shown alongside expansive compositions on double-boiled, triple-washed linen, all painted with his signature palette of ground mineral, vegetable, and organic pigments. Recurring motifs—stars, chalices, garlands, and other symbolic forms—appear throughout the works, often elaborated and repeated in obsessive but never-identical series. Together, they offer a compelling view of Massini’s immersive, meditative visual language.

Born in Trieste in 1955, Massini relocated to Naples in the mid-1970s to pursue studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. He now lives and works in Treviso, Italy. His early exposure to both classical traditions and modernist movements laid the groundwork for his innovative approach to painting and mixed media. His art is characterised by rhythmic patterning, intricate surfaces, and a meticulous layering of pigments and materials, resulting in paintings that verge on the sculptural—rich in both visual and tactile depth.

Massini’s style defies easy classification. Describing his approach as “meta-historical,” he conjures a visual realm that fuses timeless iconography with contemporary material processes. Ethereal church spires, blossoms, maritime vessels, vials, amphorae, and antique goblets appear against matte, lacquered backdrops, transforming everyday or folkloric subjects into enchanted forms. His compositions pulse with energy, drawing the viewer into a dialogue between simplicity and complexity, repetition and variation, chaos and order.
Central to Massini’s artistic philosophy is his meditative process. He engraves fine, repetitive lines and curves into each surface with near-trance-like focus, reflecting on universal symbols that transcend time and space. This deep engagement with the physicality of the medium produces works that feel experiential as much as visual—compositions that echo natural cycles and invite quiet contemplation.

Massini’s work has been featured in numerous international exhibitions, including Cassina Projects, Milan (November 2025); Forma Gallery, Paris (2023); Kunsthalle Budapest, Hungary (2005); MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, Italy (2003); and the Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria (2000), among others.

This presentation at the June Art Fair offers a rare opportunity to encounter Massini’s early 21st-century works in a focused context—revealing the continuity of his vision and reaffirming his position as a singular voice in contemporary Italian painting.

(press release) exhibition14 May 2025 Gian Maria Tosatti and Adji Dieye at the 24th Paiz Art Biennial in Guatemala City Gian Maria Tosatti and Adji Dieye are among the participating artists at the 24th Paiz Art Biennial in Guatemala City. The event is curated by Italian curator and Artistic Director of the MAMBO (Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá), Eugenio Viola.

"The World Tree" is the title of the Biennial. “The World Tree” is conceived as a polyphonic project that engages with the artistic ecosystem of Guatemala and Mesoamerica, reaffirming art’s ability to bridge distant worlds. In a global context marked by tensions and conflicts, this Biennial stands as a symbol of art’s potential to cultivate understanding, celebrate diversity, and promote unity and inclusion.

A pioneer in the advancement and development of art in Central America, the Paiz Art Biennial is one of
the region’s most significant contemporary art event since 1978, making it the sixth oldest Biennial
in the world and the second oldest in Latin America. The Biennial is a cultural
project of Fundación Paiz, a non-profit organization that, for over forty years, has supported the
development of education and culture in Guatemala, with the conviction that art is an essential tool
for social development.

Additional participants will be announced in the coming months. exhibition13 May 2025 Why Look at Animals? A Case for the Rights of Non-Human Lives Elisabetta Benassi, Rossella Biscotti, Denicolai & Provoost, Tiziana Pers, and Marta Roberti are the Italian artists participating in the group exhibition "Why Look at Animals? A Case for the Rights of Non-Human Lives" at the EMST Museum in Athens, curated by Katerina Gregos, from May 16, 2025, to February 15, 2026.

The exhibition focuses on animal rights and welfare, highlighting the need to recognize and defend the lives of non-human animals in an anthropocentric world that marginalizes, oppresses, and brutalizes them. The show draws inspiration from John Berger’s seminal text of the same name, “Why Look at Animals?” (1980), which explores the human-animal relationship in modernity and how animals have been marginalized in human societies. Featuring over 60 artists from four continents and more than 200 works occupying all floors of the museum, Why Look at Animals? is the largest exhibition ever organized by EMST and the first major international exhibition on non-human animal rights.

In the image: Tiziana Pers, Saut dans le vide (still), 2016, Courtesy of the artist.