Bergamo Welcomes Maurizio Cattelan and the Fourth Cycle of “Biennale delle Orobie”
From June 7th to October 26th, Bergamo welcomes Maurizio Catteman’s latest exhibition, “Seasons”, which spreads across the city, imbuing four symbolic locations. The show explores time as a living, fragile, and inexorable material. Conceived by the Padua-born artist in collaboration with GAMeC, “Seasons” is part of the fourth cycle of events within the program “Thinking Like a Mountain | The Orobie Biennale”. It invites visitors to reflect on the cyclical nature of life and the ever-shifting terrain of collective memory.
While the title evokes the seasons, it even more so points to inner transitions, identity metamorphoses, and the collapse and reconstruction of values. The exhibition features five works—two newly created sculptures and a site-specific installation—spread across GAMeC, Palazzo della Ragione, the former Oratory of San Lupo, and the Rotonda dei Mille. As always with Cattelan, the sacred and the profane collide and coexist. From “November”, a poignant tribute to a late friend, to “No”, a censored (and reimagined) variation of his iconic Him, and One, in which a child in a red T-shirt climbs onto Garibaldi’s statue—is it an irreverent act or a new utopian impulse? Interpretation is left to the viewer.
Beyond Cattelan’s exhibition, the new cycle of the Biennale program also includes a performance by Cecilia Bengolea, site-specific installations by Francesco Pedrini and Julius von Bismarck in the towns of Roncobello and Dossena, and the group show “Mountain Forgets You. Toward the New Frattini Bivouac” by EX., featuring the installation “Thermocene” by Giorgio Ferrero, Rodolfo Mongitore, and EX.
Marking the launch of the new projects was an exclusive dinner party held in the rationalist setting of the Palazzo della Libertà, animated by toasts, spontaneous encounters, and—starting at 10 p.m.—a carefree DJ set by Auroro Borealo. Among the many guests, a cross-section of international artists, collectors, and curators made their appearance. Alongside GAMeC director Lorenzo Giusti and curators Sara Fumagalli, Valentina Gervasoni, Marta Papini, and of course (though only to an extent) Cattelan, Say Who also captured Agostino Iacurci, Lorenzo Balbi, Nicola Ricciardi, Roberta Tenconi, Francesco Bonami, Julius von Bismarck, Rossella Farinotti, Yuri Ancarani, Antonio Colomboni, Eleonora Chiari and Sara Goldschmied, Massimo Giorgetti, Sarah Cosulich, Paolo Casati, and Luca Cerizza.
Photos: Ludovica Arcero
Text: Germano D’Acquisto
