Massimo Bartolini's Italian Pavilion at Venice Biennale Embraces Listening

The Italian Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale, curated by Luca Cerizza and featuring artist Massimo Bartolini, is titled "Due qui/To Hear." The project emphasizes listening as a relational and acoustic experience, with a circular, non-linear layout across the Arsenale's tese and garden. Bartolini, known for exploring sound since the late 1980s, presents sculptural, installation, sound, and performance works. Collaborators include composer Gavin Bryars, who set a poem by Roberto Juarroz to music, and young composers Caterina Barbieri and Kali Malone. A central installation features a Bodhisattva figure symbolizing stillness and deep connection. The pavilion received €800,000 from the Ministry of Culture and €400,000 from sponsors. A public program, "If Only We Had Ears" (inspired by John Cage), runs from May to September with events at the Giardino delle Vergini and Villa Furstenberg Park. This is the first time the curator was selected via a public call by the MiC. The pavilion continues the single-artist format introduced in 2022, a choice criticized by Vittorio Sgarbi.