Something Out of It

LIAF—Lofoten International Art Festival presents “Something Out of It“, a preview exhibition opening in conjunction with the 59th Venice Biennale.

Curated by Italian duo Francesco Urbano Ragazzi, “Something Out of It” has been conceived as a precursory exploration of the curatorial themes set for the 30th anniversary of LIAF, temporarily uprooted from Lofoten Islands in the Arctic circle to the Venetian lagoon.

The project takes place in two venues: the parlour and courtyard of a functioning women’s prison and a private palazzo.

The former hosts Pauline Curnier Jardin (Marseille, France 1980) in collaboration with the inmates of the Casa di Reclusione Femminile della Giudecca, an Italian women’s prison located in the former monastery of the Convertite where around 60 inmates now live. Curnier Jardin reimagines the prison parlour room that connects the women’s prison to the outside world, transforming it into a ritualistic space for meaningful encounters.

The latter, the courtyard of Casa Venezia,  hosts a new video installation by Tomaso De Luca (Verona, Italy 1988). Winner of the 2021 MAXXI Bvlgari Prize, De Luca continues his investigation into the crisis of modernism—as the promise of a functional life for all—and processes of gentrification, linked to socio-natural phenomenons, such as the AIDS epidemic or the most recent climate change. Consisting of sculptures, photography and a video, the installation debunks the myth of comfort, transforming the house into a treacherous place. Furniture and everyday items are transformed into potentially lethal traps —the activation of such traps being shown through a visual grammar that is both threatening and comical.