WEAVING DREAMS. LIVING TIME
curated by Dores Sacquegna
Palmieri Foundation, Lecce
The thirty-first edition of WOMEN’S ART POWER contemporary art exhibition entitled WEAVING DREAMS, LIVING TIME opens Saturday 8 March at 7:00 pm and featuring nineteen artists and their works at the Fondazione Palmieri in Vico dei Sotterranei in Lecce, Italy. The exhibition curated by Dores Sacquegna and organized by Primo Piano LivinGallery can be visited until March 21. During opening day, the performance “Oui. L’appel de l’intime, l’appel du monde” (Yes, the call of the intimate, the call of the world) by French artist Sandra Detourbet, followed by “Sound no Shielding” by m° Alberto Nick Bolettieri in homage to the works by Australian-born, Italian binational special guest artist Virginia Ryan, present in Lecce during opening day. The exhibition is under auspices of the Lecce Municipality, and it is in partnership with the Italian American organization of women entrepreneurs in Florida WWTS (World Women Talent System). Drink and tastings welcome offered by Salento’s farms of Contino Wines and Ferrara. Bilingual catalogue on display.
THE EXHIBITION AND THE ARTISTS
WOMEN’S ART POWER was born as a cultural dialogue between Italian and international artists, and with WEAVING DREAMS. LIVING TIME, the event is renewed under the sign of discovery, of enchantment and poetry, with a dreamlike journey between stages and passages, between endings and beginnings. The word “Weaving” refers to the act of interweaving the threads of the weft with those of the warp at the loom, and “Living Time” unifies opposing concepts such as immobility and flow, matter and the ineffable in defining both boundaries and our very existence. The word “Living Time” is an invitation to weave stories and preserve meaning.
Virginia Ryan has exhibited in the Macro Museum in Rome, Venice Biennale, Pino Pascali Foundation in Polignano a Mare, the Dakar Biennale to name a few. In Ghana she co-founded the influential FCA Foundation of Contemporary Art. On display are the shield/drum installations from the series of “Forms of Protection” and the collaborative video “Sanctuary” (with musician Oliver Ryan) filmed in the Balmoral Forest in Australia, a place originally inhabited by Aboriginal peoples. Her works evoke dreamscapes and masterfully blend elements of traditional and multicultural design with contemporary flair. Between memory and loss, between the ways of weaving and transforming, Ryan conveys messages of peace, protection and reconciliation with the earth.
In addition to her, twelve artists known to have collaborated with Primo Piano LivinGallery since its inception and active nationally and internationally including the Americans artists Kohlene Hendrickson (special guest 2024 guest known for her works about “The 12 faces of Eros”), followed by Christine Palamidessi, known for her vestals in Lecce papier-mâché, Dena Haden noted young Fiber Artist whose works were recently exhibited at the National Center of Contemporary of Art in Belarus; Sara McKenzie, known for her inlays between nanoscience and art and Pnina Granirer, Canadian artist and writer with major retrospectives and permanent collections in the Glenbow Museum in Calgary-Alberta. From the rest of the world, French artist Sandra Detourbet, in her second performance in Lecce, Luxembourg artist Margot Reding-Schroeder whose works are in important collections, and Dutch artist Bikkel, who founded BAM (Bikkel Art Museum) and whose works are in the collection at the Chang Kil-Hwan Museum in South Korea to name a few. The Bosnian but Austrian by adoption is the artist Nena Lang Cirkovic, whose works have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale in the Musa Pavilion and at the 14th Florence Biennale. From Turkey, the young artist and designer Deniz Sak is known for her participation in YAP MAXXI in Rome and the Milan Triennale, among others.
Italians artists include works by Sonia Giavitto, known for her alchemical sculptures and portals, and Maria Luisa Imperiali known for her archetypal figures in pop settings and present here with an installation that requires interaction with the audience.
Among the new entries we find the works by the Swiss Canadian sculptor and ceramist Claudia Von Boch, known for her tapered sculptures exhibited internationally, and the American artist Tama Takahashi, known for having exhibited at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum and having participated in the film “Blade Runner”. Among the younger artists, Nicole Martinelli, American artist known for her e-paintings exhibited at the San Diego Museum in California, and the Chinese artist Angel Jiaqi Qin, known for her techno performances at the Tate Modern in London. Kristina Trudorudo is a Russian photographer who lives in the US and is a member of the Soho Photo Gallery, and finally the young Romanian artist Cristina Maria Geana with her techno-collage works.
Exhibiting artists: Bikkel Artist (The Netherlands), Sandra Detourbet (France), Cristina Maria Geana (Romania), Sonia Giavitto (Italy), Pnina Granirer (Canada), Dena Haden (US), Kohlene Hendrickson (US), Maria Luisa Imperiali (Italy), Nena Lang Cirkovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Nicole Martinelli (US), Sara Mckenzie (US), Christine Palamidessi (US), Angel Jiaqi Qin (China), Margot Reding-Schroeder (Grand Duchy of Luxembourg), Virginia Ryan (Australia), Deniz Sak (Turkey),Tama Takahashi (US), Kristina Trudorudo (Russia), Claudia von Boch (Canada).
WOMEN’S ART POWER 2025
“WEAVING DREAMS, LIVING TIME”
Curated by Dores Sacquegna
From 8 to 21 march 2025 – Palmieri Foundation, Vico Dei Sotterranei, Lecce
Open every day with free entry from 4:30pm to 8:30pm (Mornings by appointment)
Tel: +39 349 37 20659 | primopianogallery@gmail.com