Andrea Magnani Recreates a Faux Village Festival as Art Performance

Andrea Magnani, a Milanese artist born in 1983, staged the project "45ª Sagra della Cipolla Rossa Piatta di Pedaso" at Villa Rivafiorita in Porto San Giorgio, Italy, from July 5, 2025. The work blurs the line between exhibition and performance, evoking memories of local summer festivals. Curated by Matilde Galletti, the project occupies the early 20th-century villa with clues of a past or imaginary festival, inspired by Orson Welles's 1938 radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds." During the opening on July 5, guests gathered for a communal meal, during which tables moved autonomously, suggesting absent presences. The artist created fake ready-mades that appear as found objects, recreating the suspended atmosphere of village sagre. The title references the red flat onion of Pedaso, a Slow Food Presidium ingredient historically so prominent that locals were called "Pedasini Cipollari." Its cultivation declined in the late 1900s but was revived by farmer Arturo Ferretti, who preserved the seeds. The project includes a wooden wall blocking access to a room from which an accordion sound emanates.