In a Light Breeze

Fondazione Memmo presents In a Light Breeze, the tenth edition of Conversation Piece, the annual cycle of exhibitions  curated by Marcello Smarrelli. For this new edition, the following artists have been invited: Bianca Bondi (b. 1986, South Africa), a 2024-2025 scholarship recipient at Accademia di Francia a Roma – Villa Medici; Enzo Cucchi (b. 1949, Italy), exhibiting a collective artwork created together with Andrea Anastasio, Francesco Arena, Marc Bauer, Elisabetta Benassi, Carlo Benvenuto and Domenico Mangano; Sidival Fila (b. 1962, Brazil), Vanessa Garwood (b. 1982, United Kingdom), Richard Mosse (b. 1980, Ireland), winner of the Philip Guston Rome Prize 2024-2025 at the American Academy in Rome.

The title of this year’s exhibition In aLight Breeze refers to a meteorological phenomenon that is typical of Italy’s capital city: the Ponentino, a light summer wind that blows from the sea to the west. The Ponentino is mentioned in several Roman folk songs (known as stornelli), in which it frequently features as an accomplice in love stories, as well as in the work of various authors and film directors such as Fellini, who imagined it as one of the protagonists of his film Roma. The title may also be seen as referring to the gentle breeze or “still small voice” which precedes the biblical prophet Elijah’s encounter with God, or to the creation of man, formed from “the dust of the ground” and then animated by the divine breath. It may also be associated with Zephyr, the Greek god of the west wind and spring, as well as with the pneuma, considered as the origin of all things in Pre-Socratic philosophy.

The opening is scheduled for Friday, December 13th, from 6 to 8 pm.