Valerio Volpato's 'There Is No Wrong Way to Pray' at 10 documents
On May 29, 2026, Valerio Volpato showcased 'There Is No Wrong Way to Pray' at 10 documents in Monteverde, Rome. The sound and visual performance featured a vertical screen displaying curated Instagram reels, including a man cooking a clownfish, a CapCut of Berlusconi and Putin, an AI-generated video of Pope Leo urging 'Amen' for healing, and a low-resolution 3D game. Volpato manipulated their audio through a mixing board, generating glitchy feedback loops. The climax was a looped video of a young man with a sparse shelf, his voice distorted into a pseudo-noise concert. This event was part of the inaugural Public Research Program cycle 'On Affection,' initiated in November 2025, and included a conversation booklet with Ginevra Ludovici and Flavio Michele. Volpato's work reflects themes of post-truth, algorithmic influence, and the fragmentation of shared reality, drawing on Kane Parsons' 'Backrooms,' Pope Leo XIV's encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas,' and Baudrillard's seduction theory.
Key facts
- Valerio Volpato performed 'There Is No Wrong Way to Pray' at 10 documents in Rome on May 29, 2026.
- The performance used a vertical screen mirroring his phone to scroll algorithmically curated Instagram reels.
- Audio from reels was fed into a mixing board to create glitchy feedback loops.
- Volpato has spoken about his struggles with OCD and intrusive thoughts.
- 10 documents launched its first Public Research Program in November 2025.
- The cycle 'On Affection' explores affection as a relational device.
- A booklet with a conversation between Volpato, Ginevra Ludovici, and Flavio Michele was published.
- The performance references Pope Leo XIV's encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas' and Kane Parsons' 'Backrooms.'
Entities
Artists
- Valerio Volpato
- Kane Parsons
- Ginevra Ludovici
- Flavio Michele
Institutions
- 10 documents
- NERO Editions
- Spike Art Magazine
- Vatican
Locations
- Monteverde
- Rome
- Italy