Push the Limits: Art and War at Fondazione Merz, Turin

Key facts

• Exhibition 'Push the Limits' at Fondazione Merz, Turin, curated by Claudia Gioia and Beatrice Merz.
• Explores the relationship between art/culture and war, inspired by Mario Merz's phrase 'la cultura si sveste e fa apparire la guerra'.
• Features works by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Janis Rafa, yasmine eid-sabbagh/Rozenn Quéré, Rossella Biscotti, Monica Bonvicini, Mirna Bamieh, and Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press.
• Gonzalez-Foerster's 'Metapanorama I, II, III' (2023) is a large digital print inspired by Mexican mural painting and 19th-century dioramas.
• Janis Rafa's video 'The Fear of Leaving the Animal Forever Forgotten Under the Ground' (2021) depicts a dog's subjective view in a claustrophobic underground labyrinth.
• yasmine eid-sabbagh/Rozenn Quéré's 'Possible and Imaginary Lives' (2012-14) reconstructs lives of four Palestinian sisters in exile via photography and sound.
• Rossella Biscotti's 'Le Teste in Oggetto' (2015) and Monica Bonvicini's 'Chainswing' series (2024) engage with power and authority.
• Mirna Bamieh's 'Sour Things: the Pantry' (2024) includes ceramics, drawings, wallpaper, video, and glass jars from her Ramallah pantry.
• Fiona Banner's 'Pranayama Organ' (2021) features two fighter jets (Typhoon and Falcon) inflating and dancing, projected in the underground space.
• The exhibition invites rethinking of contemporary art's decorative disposition and centers its transformative potential.