Francesco De Grandi's Site-Specific Work and Performance at FBI Foundation in La Spezia

In June 2022, FBI Fondazione Benassi Iacopo in La Spezia presented BASTONE, a show curated by Antonio Grulli featuring a site-specific intervention by Francesco De Grandi (born 1968 in Palermo) and a performance by De Grandi and Jacopo Benassi. The foundation was provocatively established in Benassi's studio bathroom the previous year, with Grulli and other artistic figures. De Grandi's painted intervention on a toilet seat cover and surrounding panels references medieval iconography, including the King of Wands, the mouth of hell, and the phrase “DE BABILONIA CIVITATE INFERNALIS” from Giacomino da Verona, a 13th-century poet who influenced Dante's Divine Comedy. The performance took place in Benassi's dark, lived-in studio, where De Grandi transcribed verses from Giacomino da Verona into Sicilian, his native language, using his left hand (the devil's hand) while Benassi created soundscapes. The project follows the spontaneous, non-commercial direction of FBI, presenting art purely for pleasure without market or communication strategy.