Chiara Fumai Retrospective Opens at Teatro Margherita in Bari

A major retrospective dedicated to Chiara Fumai, the Italian artist who died in 2017 at age 39, opened on February 8 at the newly renovated Teatro Margherita in Bari. Curated by Antonella Marino with The Church of Chiara Fumai association (presided over by the artist's mother) and scientific consultancy by Francesco Urbano Ragazzi, the exhibition features key works such as the 2013 video 'Shut up Actually Talk,' originally performed at dOCUMENTA13 curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. In the video, Fumai channels circus performer Zalumma Agra and recites Carla Lonzi's 1977 manifesto 'Io Dico Io,' merging the freak and the art historian in a feminist statement. Another work from the same year, 'Follow This You bitches,' is a large esoteric star reinterpreted in pop style. The exhibition extends into two lateral wings showing 'The book of evil spirits' (2015), where Fumai reinterprets female figures including Ulrike Meinhof, and 'La donna delinquente' (2011-13), a film featuring 19th-century spiritist Eusapia Palladino from Minervino Murge. The final immersive space, 'The Church of Chiara Fumai,' reconstructs the artist's multifaceted practice through collages, drawings, performance materials dedicated to her father Nico Fumai (presented in 2010 at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo), and her iconic self-portrait as Valerie Solanas reciting from the SCUM Manifesto. The project management is by Paola Marino and Anna Fresa.