Artur Żmijewski's First Italian Solo Show at PAC Milano

PAC Milano presents 'Quando la paura mangia l'anima', the first Italian solo exhibition of Polish artist Artur Żmijewski (b. 1966, Warsaw). Żmijewski, who curated the 7th Berlin Biennale in 2012, explores fear, violence, and the dark aspects of humanity. The show features historical and recent works, including three new pieces produced for the PAC: a film inspired by neurologist Vincenzo Neri's scientific cinema, the photographic series 'Refugees/Cardboards', and a black-and-white mural depicting refugees emerging from darkness. The mural references refugees at the Polish-Belarusian border in summer/autumn 2021 and evokes the current situation in Ukraine. The exhibition title, an Arabic and North African expression describing immigrants' perpetual fear, frames the narrative. Works include 'An Eye For An Eye', showing four imperfect nude bodies to assert aesthetic existence, and 'Political Gestures', a series of photographs inspired by Heinrich Hoffman's propaganda images of Hitler, revealing how dictators use democracy to maintain power. The exhibition is a silent cry against human atrocities and a call to lost humanity, immersing viewers in feelings of anguish, reclusion, and alienation.