An invitation to Unite: ‘The Milky Way House’ Exhibition in Faenza by Antonello Ghezzi
The traveling exhibition ‘The Milky Way House’ by Antonello Ghezzi opens on Italian soil, specifically the Church of Santa Maria dell’Angelo in Faenza.
“If our galaxy were a single nation, how would its offices look like and what actions could be performed in its spaces? The exhibition invents an institutional framework made of flags depicting the Milky Way, offices where you can find your lost desires, where you can stamp your galactic citizenship and see messages that come to us directly from the stars, for a future of peace and hope.” Antonello Ghezzi
The exhibition “La Casa Della Via Lattea”, or ‘The Milky Way House’, by Antonello Ghezzi opened on Saturday 7 September 2024 in Faenza Italy, curated by Giovanni Gardini. Antonello Ghezzi is an artists collective duo comprised of Nadia Antonello and Paolo Ghezzi, two Italian artists based in Bologna. Since their partnership in 2009, they have worked on numerous projects globally, and won international awards; they have also previously exhibited in Lebanon on several occasions in the past. They work with scientists in order to conceptualize artworks that bring joy, poetry and beauty to our everyday lives.
Nadia Antonello (right) and Paolo Ghezzi (left) (photo courtesy of the artists)
‘Under the Same Sky’ by Antonello Ghezzi at the Church of Santa Maria dell’Angelo in Faenza (photo by Marco Parollo)
Antonello Ghezzi have been reflecting on the theme of peace and hope for years. They actually realized this same project in Beirut, Lebanon in 2022, curated by Maie El-Hage and with the support of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Beirut. The project was further realized in both Chile and Argentina in 2023.
For the first time in Italy, specifically in the Church of Santa Maria dell’Angelo, Exhibition space of the Diocesan Museum of Faenza, the exhibition offers visitors an institutional framework made of flags depicting the Milky Way, blue traffic lights indicating the green light to fly, offices where you can find your lost desires, where you can stamp your galactic citizenship and see messages that come directly from the stars, for a future of peace and hope. Thus, the exhibition space of the church has been transformed into an ‘embassy’ of the nation of the Milky Way.
More photos from the exhibition by Antonello Ghezzi (photo by Marco Parollo)
On the occasion of this first Italian event, the exhibition was accompanied by a ‘National Anthem of the Milky Way’ written by Yousef Sakhnini, a young Palestinian composer, also including the participation of teachers and students of the Sarti Music School of Faenza for the performance.
“If our galaxy were a single nation, how would its offices look like and what actions could be performed in its spaces? The exhibition invents an institutional framework made of flags depicting the Milky Way, offices where you can find your lost desires, where you can stamp your galactic citizenship and see messages that come to us directly from the stars, for a future of peace and hope.”
Antonello Ghezzi, artist duo
The exhibition is composed of an amalgamation of the artists’ many works, including ‘Under the Same Sky’, an impressive installation created by joining together numerous scraps of blue fabrics on which the artists have painted a large starry sky. Many of the fabrics that form the work were recovered from the ‘Diego Arreda’ warehouse in Solarolo and bear the wounds of the flood of May 2023. The canvases were sewn by the social cooperative ‘Farsi Prossimo di Faenza’. During the exhibition, visitors will be invited to bring a blue fabric which, combined with those donated, will form another work that will be presented to the public on the occasion of the finissage of the exhibition.
‘Shooting Stars’, a large luminous line placed in the center of the nave, is an installation that, in real time, allows us to express countless wishes: it lights up when a shooting star falls in the Mediterranean area thanks to the collaboration with the Medicina Astronomical Center in Bologna.
You can stamp your certificate of citizenship of the Milky Way galaxy. (photo by Marco Parollo)
This LED strip through the nave of the church lights up everytime a shooting star falls. (photo by Marco Parollo)
‘The Milky Way House’ project by Antonello Ghezzi in the Church of Santa Maria dell’Angelo in Faenza (photo by Marco Parollo)
Furthermore, there are the Office of the citizenship of the Milky Way where each visitor can sit, fill in, stamp their own Citizenship of the Milky Way and take it with them and the Office of lost wishes where, in the appropriate container, you can leave the form in which you can describe your lost wish with the hope of finding it again.
‘Milky Way House’ Citizenship certificate which the public can each individually stamp, sign and take with them (photo by Marco Parollo)
The exhibition is a beacon of hope and peace in a tumultuous world. By declaring that ‘we are all citizens of the Milky Way galaxy’, the artists are inviting us to join hands and unite in our humanity. This traveling exhibition is an opportunity to see for ourselves that, truly, we are all one.
‘Via Libera per Volare’ by Antonello Ghezzi (photo by Marco Parollo)
Detail of the Church of Santa Maria dell’Angelo in Faenza (photo by Marco Parollo)
During the period of the exhibition, workshops and guided tours will be designed for schools of all levels. On the occasion of the exhibition, a catalogue will be printed for Edizioni delle Grazie with texts in Italian and English and photographs by Marco Parollo.
The exhibition “LA CASA DELLA VIA LATTEA”, in collaboration with the Diocesan Library of Faenza and the Municipality of Faenza thanks to the contribution of the Unione della Romagna Faentina, will remain open until 12 January 2025, from Thursday to Sunday, at the following times: 10.00-12.30; 16.00-18.30
Address: Church of Santa Maria dell’Angelo, Exhibition space of the Diocesan Museum of Faenza, via Santa Maria dell’Angelo 11, Faenza
For information: info@museodiocesanofaenza.it
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