Brian Eno's First Italian Retrospective Opens in Parma with Political Edge

Brian Eno's first retrospective in Italy opens in Parma from May 1 to August 2, 2026, at the Complesso Monumentale di San Paolo and the Ospedale Vecchio. Curated by Alessandro Albertini, the exhibition comprises two complementary projects: SEED, a generative sound installation in the 8,000-square-meter garden created with Turkish writer Ece Temelkuran, and My Light Years, a major survey of over forty years of Eno's work in the newly restored Ospedale Vecchio. SEED is explicitly political, with Eno advocating for peace and Temelkuran referencing Palestine as an example of cruelty. The installation evolves as visitors move, and their sonic experience will be recorded on a unique vinyl for the Casa del Suono. My Light Years includes historic video works from the 1980s such as Mistaken Memories of Mediaeval Manhattan and Thursday Afternoon, alongside generative pieces like 77 Million Paintings and Face to Face, shown for the first time in Italy on a large scale. New Light Boxes created for Parma and the return of Crystals, absent from Italy since 1984, complete the exhibition. Eno, a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 2023 Venice Biennale, has previously realized projects in Italy at Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento (2022), Palazzo Te in Mantua (2016), and Ara Pacis in Rome (2008). The exhibition emphasizes the importance of wasting time and social relations, contrasting Parma with London, which Eno calls 'the world's great shopping mall.'