Mousse Magazine & Publishing

“Skank Bloc Bologna: Alternative Art Spaces since 1977” is a book edited by Roberto Pinto and Francesco Spampinato that reconstructs the history of nonprofit exhibition spaces in Bologna from 1977 up to the present. Whether individual initiatives, cooperative enterprises, or social centers, the spaces featured in this volume devised the real “Bologna model”: one-of-a-kind, compared both to the situation in other Italian cities and to the international scene. The book’s title references a 1978 song by the English post-punk band Scritti Politti, emblematic of the international perception of Bologna as the epicenter of political agitation and cultural innovation. Historic spaces covered include Traumfabrik, Cassero, neon, Link Project, and Il Campo delle Fragole. The project was the winner of the eleventh edition of the Italian Council (2022) call for proposals issued by the General Directorate for Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture. Edited by Roberto Pinto and Francesco Spampinato Texts by Roberto Pinto, Francesco Spampinato, Andrea Lissoni, Lara De Lena and Davide Da Pieve

Michael E. Smith occasionally creates drawings as organizational notes for his exhibitions: a to-do list may be intertwined with a sketch outlining an idea for a sculpture, and at times, drawings emerge as impromptu phone scribbles. Over the past fifteen years, Michael E. Smith has accumulated a substantial collection of drawings, largely unpublished until now. To complement the exhibition dedicated to the artist, the Kunst Museum Winterthur is releasing an artist book featuring a comprehensive selection of drawings from this period. Afterword by Lynn Kost

“Aleksandar Denić: Exposition Coloniale” is the catalogue of the Serbian Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, on view from April 20 through November 24, 2024, commissioned by Jelena Medakovic, director of the City Museum of Belgrade, and curated by Ksenija Samardzija, director of Fondacija Saša Marčeta. The title of the exhibition, “Exposition Coloniale” instantly sheds light on the ramifications of the colonial era. This historical context set the stage for Denić’s exploration of colonialist legacy and the persisting impact of cultural and ethnic stratification. Through his visual storytelling and symbolic and semiotic construction, the artist creates a picture of reality Through his significant and awarded artistic experience in theater, Denić used his skills to delve into complex and pressing issues. Complex structures and spatial conglomerates are imbued with the anxieties of the society in which they exist. Texts by Ksenija Samardzija, Stevan Vuković, Christopher Yggdre, Frank Castorf

For her first solo show at an Italian art institution, Giulia Andreani is presenting L'IMPRODUTTIVA, a project that features a cohesive body of new work, with large-scale paintings and watercolors, conceived for the South Room of Collezione Maramotti. Andreani’s work grows out of collective memories, fragments of history at risk of being lost, which the artist recovers and transforms into complex pictorial compositions, visual collages constructed through correspondences. Archives, and the pre-digital objects they hold, are her primary source of inspiration: faded letters, yellowed documents, and above all, black-and white-photographs that the artist selects, gathers and filters in a non-linear way, sifting out their key elements. Andreani’s work is guided by an unorthodox approach to research, in which images of the past are absorbed and transformed by her artistic subjectivity. It reveals invisible figures and forgotten facts, places, and moments, most of which are indissolubly linked to the historical, social and cultural experience of the female gender.