Bianco-Valente's 'Relational' Engages Gio Ponti's Architecture at Stockholm's Italian Cultural Institute

Italian artist duo Bianco-Valente (Giovanna Bianco, born 1962 in Latronico; Pino Valente, born 1967 in Naples) have installed their work 'Relational' at the Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm, a building designed by modernist architect Gio Ponti in 1953. The piece continues their exploration of social and existential connections through a network motif, engaging with Ponti's total art concept that merges art, design, and architecture. Curator Adriana Rispoli notes that the network, visible or invisible, has become the duo's signature, aiming to give value to the abstract concept of relation. The installation interacts with Ponti's ceramic tiles and windows, creating shifting patterns of light and shadow. This project follows previous iterations of 'Relational' at Madre and the Provincial Library of Potenza (2009), Castelbasso (2010), and Mergellina Station in Naples (2013). The work evokes the duo's earlier 2007 audiovisual installation 'Tempo Universale', which used a visual pattern of tree branches as a metaphor for existential encounters. The optical interplay between 'Relational' and Ponti's facades acts as a screen of memory, bridging analog and virtual realms.