ARCADIA: Palm Trees and Rhizomes in a Landscape Show at Lugano's Fondazione Bally

The exhibition ARCADIA, curated by Vittoria Mattarese at Villa Heleneum in Lugano, home of the Fondazione Bally, explores landscape through the lens of the rhizome concept from Deleuze and Guattari's 'Mille Plateaux' (1987). The palm tree is the central motif, represented across works by artists including Mario Schifano, Gabriel Moraes Aquino, Yto Barrada, Julius von Bismarck, Raphaël Emine, the duo Ittah Yoda (Virgile Ittah and Kai Yoda), Lisa Lurati, and Batia Suter. The show begins with historical postcards and brochures from the Archivio Storico della Città di Lugano (1900-1976) depicting Ticino and Lake Lugano as exotic tourist destinations, often with photomontaged palm trees to create a 'Swiss Riviera' atmosphere. Watercolors by Hermann Hesse, who lived in Montagnola, continue the theme. Contemporary works interrogate the boundary between nature and artifice: Barrada's 'Palm Sign' is a metal palm painted in Tangier taxi colors; von Bismarck's 'I like flowers' series flattens plants onto metal sheets; Emine uses ceramic and 3D printing inspired by Gilles Clément; Ittah Yoda created an installation after a residency mapping the territory; Lurati employs cyanotype after Anna Atkins to depict Mesozoic flora and fauna; Suter makes monumental installations from old book images. The show runs at Fondazione Bally in Lugano.