Diego Marcon: Have You Checked the Children

For the Italian artist’s first institutional solo exhibition in Switzerland, key works of the past few years can be seen together with his new film and a sculptural ensemble. Presented in specially conceived installations, the works deploy analogue means alongside digital technologies to interrogate the fraught relationship between reality and representation. In so doing, the tension between power and vulnerability is often exposed—through-lines of Marcon’s wildly imaginative practice.

Composing the set, lighting, costume, sound, and script of each of his film projects with a small team of friends and collaborators, the artist flirts with different entertainment genres, such as the horror movie, slapstick comedy, Sunday morning television cartoon, and musical. Consistently, sound plays a key role. In some films, its absence speaks: silence becomes the protagonist, as much as in other films