N0 Art Group, in collaboration with Accademia Italiana and San Lorenzo Art District, presents the solo exhibitions of the artist and RUFA graduate Carola Spina (1998) and the artist Federica Gonnelli (1981), curated by Matteo Peretti and Bianca Catalano, concluding the second cycle of art residencies of N0 80 Giorni Art Residency.
The works on display are the result of the research and creative work carried out by the two artists during the residency period at the spaces of Accademia Italiana. N0 80 Giorni Art Residency is the result of an open call launched by N0 Art Group in the spring of 2024, which saw Federica Gonnelli and Carola Spina selected as winners for the second residency period.
The exhibition of La città sul fiume immobile by Federica Gonnelli is developed from an investigation into the history and topographical and cultural identity of the San Lorenzo district. The title is inspired by the homonymous book by Eduardo Mallea, reflecting on the concept of the river as a symbol of passage and transformation. The work of the same title, a large installation that spans two exhibition rooms, consists of a river of organza fabric that physically separates the spaces, forcing visitors to pass through specific doors. Other doors, inspired by historical structures such as the Porta Tiburtina, become symbols of separation but also of possibilities for crossing, emblematic of life, journey, and change. The installation is enriched with other significant works such as Isola, a digital image representing San Lorenzo as an island in the urban context, and Il fiume scomparso, a reference to the Crabra River, a symbol of boundary and isolation. Dialogo Muto, a video reflecting on interrupted communication, explores the social and physical boundaries of the San Lorenzo district, using phrases from Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler.” Finally, the work Derivazione invites the public to reflect on the physical and historical boundaries of San Lorenzo, while Tentativi explores the possibility of a return to a natural state before urbanization. The project concludes with a work that commemorates the bombing of San Lorenzo on July 19, 1943, evoking through images the fragility and continuous transformation of the collective identity of the district.
The works on display by the artist and RUFA graduate Carola Spina
The themes of transformation, memory, and physical and cultural boundaries investigated by Federica, albeit with profoundly different artistic means and languages, are equally central to the research of Carola Spina. The exhibition of Carola Spina Muscoli Impari is developed through three rooms, each dedicated to a different medium: sculpture, installation, and video installation. The central thread of the entire exhibition is a movement of transformation and resemanticization that overturns, empties, squeezes, and fills, generating new meanings. The first room houses a sculpture exploring the spontaneous hybridization of two animals, a snake constricting a bird. This apparently brutal act generates a fusion that gives rise to a new form, elusive and in continuous transformation, symbolizing the tension between destruction and creation. In the video installation, Carola Spina addresses the theme of institutionalized violence, relating her aversion to militarization with her love for musicals. The choreographed gestures of soldiers are ironized, blurring the boundary between authority and entertainment. Irony becomes social criticism, revealing the contradictions of our present through a grotesque ballet of power. The last room hosts a series of inflatable dolls, transformed into mechanically animated subjects. Connected to mini compressors that pump air, the dolls inflate and deflate, creating an atmosphere of disjointed breaths and oscillations between silence and noise. The inversion of the dolls’ skin, where the inside becomes the outside, invites reflection on the distortion of the body and sexuality, proposing a meditation on artificiality and the continuous reinvention of our bodies.
Carola Spina, Latta d’Oro, 2024, still from video, courtesy of the artist.
Opening Period: from 13.12.2024 to 18.12.2024 – from 08.01.2025 to 23.01.2025
Opening Hours: 12:00-18:00 Monday to Friday or by appointment
Location: Accademia Italiana, Viale dello Scalo San Lorenzo, 10 – Rome
Free Entry
Info: n0projectroom@gmail.com
IG: @n0projectroom
ARTISTS’ BIO
Carola Spina (1998) trained in the artistic field by studying theater, dance, dance-theater, and film history. In 2020, she enrolled at RUFA (Rome University of Fine Arts) in the Sculpture and Installation course, drawn by the relationship between space, matter, and movement. She graduated in February 2024. Her artistic practice is based on the use of diverse media, carefully selected to best represent the conceptual vision of the project. She works in Rome at the Alipio 13 studio.
Federica Gonnelli (1981) attended the Art High School and the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. She lives in Campi Bisenzio, on the border between Florence and Prato, where she opened the InCUBOAzione studio in June 2011. Since 2001, she has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions and competitions. In 2006, she graduated with a thesis titled “Art & Costume.” Since 2007, she has been part of the artistic collective Arts Factory. In 2013, she obtained a specialization in Visual Arts and New Expressive Languages, with a thesis titled “Video Installations between Body-Space-Time.” Since 2015, she has participated in various artist residencies, a practice that has become particularly important in her research. Since 2023, she has been an honorary academic of the Academy of Arts of Drawing in Florence.
