Preparing for Darkness Vol 2: 29 Artists Explore Melancholy in Berlin

The group exhibition 'Preparing for Darkness Vol 2' at Kühlhaus in Berlin, curated by Uwe Goldenstein, presents works by 29 artists who address themes of darkness and melancholy as a lens on contemporary societal crises. Six Italian artists are featured: Rudy Cremonini, Fabio la Fauci, Maurizio L'Altrella, Valentina Murabito, Nicola Samorì, and Claudia Virginia Vitari. Goldenstein praises Italian and Eastern European artists for resisting postmodern traps. The show is darker than its first edition. Vitari's work involves glass and metal to explore asylum seekers' experiences, informed by Foucault, Goffman, and Fanon. Samorì reinterprets Renaissance and Baroque paintings by 'skinning' them to release shadows, stating that darkness is a personal tunnel of resistance. La Fauci, who moved from Italy to Barcelona, London, and Berlin, presents six paintings from his series 'Is it you?', combining busts with irregular ceramic faces to merge figuration and abstraction. About 25% of the artists address missing or distorted faces. The exhibition runs until September 30, 2018.