Masbedo's Handle with Care Opens at Venaria Reale

The second act of Masbedo's project 'Handle with care' has opened at the Centro Conservazione e Restauro La Venaria Reale. Unlike the first iteration in Florence, which paired a multichannel video with a live performance, this edition is a full solo exhibition spread across two distinct spaces: the restoration laboratory (opened to the public for the first time) and the Citroniera delle Scuderie Juvarriane at the Reggia di Venaria. According to Nicolò Massazza, the show comprises 'an intimate part and a more muscular one.' The lab displays raw materials and clues from the artists' studio—small sculptures, cut-out images, installations, and objects of various sizes—in dialogue with paintings by old masters, such as a 'strappo' from a fresco by Donato Bramante from the Pinacoteca di Brera awaiting restoration. In the darkened 150-meter-long Citroniera, the multichannel video is projected onto three large panels, accompanied by two additional video installations, one illuminated by the last car owned by Gino de Dominicis. Iacopo Bedogni described it as 'a reflection on the artist's absence.' The project was initiated by invitation from the classroom, an art and education center founded in Milan in April 2016 and directed by Paola Nicolin, to develop a reflection on the care of images and restoration through an exhibition and a course. The next stage is a seminar from January 10 to 15, 2017, in collaboration with the Centro di restauro di Venaria.