[following text by Matilde Galletti]

On October 30, 1938, the American radio broadcaster CBS, within its Mercury Theatre on the Air program—known for presenting readings of celebrated novels—chose to air The War of the Worlds by British writer H.G. Wells. However, they opted to adapt the text rather than perform it verbatim, embedding the narrative within an evening music show that began at 8 p.m., and resetting the action to contemporary United States. The producer, director, and performer of the broadcast was the twenty-three-year-old Orson Welles, who elected to stage the novel as if it were a live news bulletin. In real time, the fictional news interrupts the musical programming to report an extraterrestrial attack on Earth, featuring an alien landing in New Jersey. Though the broadcast aired near Halloween, it was not intended as a joke; rather, the goal was to craft an as plausible as possible scenario. With faux on-the-ground reporters and screams of terror punctuating the narration, the adaptation proved sufficiently convincing to provoke widespread panic and chaos. The following morning, the front pages of numerous newspapers documented the event and its aftermath. At that moment, radio—still in its infancy as a mass medium—was just beginning its ascent into every home. For those who tuned in that evening, the illusion of a live alien invasion was profoundly shocking: what many consider the first instance of ‘fake news’ in the modern media era.
Traversing decades of technological development and media proliferation, the debate over fact and fiction—and the veracity, reliability, and manipulation of information—has become paramount. In Italy, the mid-1990s saw the case of Luther Blissett’s collective pranks emerge as a landmark example of this phenomenon.
Alongside a widespread cultural impoverishment that fosters a societal tendency to unquestioningly accept externally imposed narratives, often out of laziness or ignorance, lies an equally critical issue: a neglect of careful observation. A truly critical and aware gaze is activated through the capacity for analysis and comparison—through experience and knowledge, mediated by culture.

Cultivating such a multilayered gaze lies at the heart of Andrea Magnani’s artistic inquiry. Magnani employs every conceivable medium—painting, sculpture, performance, photography, installation—deploying each to stage his scenographic mechanisms. Through these media, he constructs plausible situations that recreate realistic contexts without relying on ready-mades, instead meticulously reconstructing them from scratch. Perhaps Empire (2018) is a performative installation in which every detail—whether rationalist shelves or early twentieth-century design furniture—is painstakingly fabricated to evoke an environment devoid of any overt signifier of ongoing art practice. This becomes evident only once the space is activated by performance, unfolding a role-play game that generates a meta-layer of representation. In La Terrasse (2019), Magnani conjures a wholly fictive environment, suffused with an atmosphere that hovers between chthonic depths and temporal-spatial glitch: a cash register perched atop a bar table covered with a towel embossed “La Terrasse,” the bar’s name, presides over a tableau that emits oracular messages. The presence of Magno, an artistic alter-ego whose factual existence oscillates between doubt and substantiation through autograph letters and newspaper clippings, further blurs reality. Here, too, once activated, it triggers perception and shifts meaning across his scenographic elements.
“In his meticulously constructed environments, the viewer is surrounded by a reality distilled into objects that are simultaneously disconcerting and familiar, participating in a sensual equilibrium. Whether illegible drawings, faux ready-mades, or non-spectacular performances, the internal dialogue between the work’s components evokes ineffable sensations.” Thus, the viewer—initially confronted with a wholly credible scenario—comes to apprehend, through prolonged and attentive scrutiny, micro-frictions that invite attentiveness. These perceptual clues situate the entire installation within a meta-reality that is subtly unsettling and grotesque. The result is akin to a mockumentary, a fictional setting that mimics documentary form to depict non-existent events, often tinged with irony.

At the 45ª Sagra della Cipolla Rossa Piatta di Pedaso (the 45th Flat Red Onion Festival), the setting is staged within an early twentieth-century villa, utilizing both its garden and first-floor interiors. The title—with its deliberately folksy, village-fair lexicon—masks a critical intention: it subverts narrative codes and questions the automatic acceptance of perceived reality. The project originates from a sensory childhood memory for the artist—distant summer festivals heard from a balcony, spectral presences, orchestras filling the night air.
The viewer encounters vestiges of an event that appears to have taken place “the day after”: two mismatched bar tables on a stage that once hosted singers like Mina; two biergarten tables with white plastic monobloc chairs decking the dance floor, overlaid with placemats advertising a past—yet still ongoing—event. Ascending the villa’s steps, one glimpses from behind a shutter a hand ladling onion soup into bowls, soon to be consumed on the dance floor tables. Inside, the air of abandonment persists: the villa’s interior evokes countless similar venues that once enjoyed glory but lacked the stamina to sustain a present. Upon entry stands a framed drawing, apparently forgotten after the last exhibition—its elegant frame and contents evoke Robert Rauschenberg’s Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953). The work is by Magdalenu Marcu (Magno), and perhaps her exhibition is the one from which a piece was inadvertently left behind.
Upstairs, the atmosphere of neglect continues—rooms with closed shutters, walls marked by traces of past events, encountering a large, chthonic nightscape: a “listless black sky […] mottled with a greenish bruise” over a field of onion flowers. Nearby, in what resembles a spacious corridor lit by a staircase window, stands a makeshift drying rack holding towels—likely belonging to the villa—branded with the initials “DV,” matching the iron balustrade on the entrance’s threshold. This room is sealed by wood paneling that conceals the next space, yet reveals, above, a glimpse into it through the sole open window on that floor. From there emerges a vague sound—the breath of an accordion. Back outside, that breath swells into music: a forgotten, sweet yet spectral melody reverberates like in a church, animating the stage’s bar tables in a mechanical choreography. The diners consume onion soup at the biergarten tables; some stand, observing. The music halts abruptly, leaving only a soft hum—the sort that lingers after a noisy concert—just as the tables, with their occupants, begin to slowly descend from one side.

More than in other contexts, here Andrea Magnani pushes the viewer’s perception to a heightened level of alert. But unlike the “attention traps” of Nicolò Porcelluzzi and Ivan Carozzi in Frigo!!!, which offer superficial entertainment—“tied to the face, the external and material appearance”—Magnani’s work engages not only the creation of a fictional reality—complete with “fake ready-mades” (ultimately sculptures)—but also, through performative dramaturgy, opens a space for a gentle, playful sentiment that enjoins observation. For nothing, on closer inspection, is quite as it seems—and every element, under a more attentive gaze, can shift us from the obvious and obtuse toward potentiality and complex visions. Reality is not solid and unequivocal, but rather a realm of wonder and strangeness.

Read here → Since Interrupted. On 45ª Sagra della Cipolla Rossa Piatta di Pedaso (45th Pedaso Flat Red Onion Festival): a conversation between Andrea Magnani and Matilde Galletti on NERO MAGAZINE

Full documentation on request

Trapezio Gallery presenta Lo Sguardo Fuori (Trapezio Gallery presents The Outward Gaze) is a performative environment, a true mise-en-scène of a secondary market gallery displaying twelve new artworks in a group show setting.

During the Special Opening performance, an actor portrayed Luigi Canè, the gallerist of the newly formed Trapezio Gallery, engaging with the public and describing the practices of Théo van Breukelman, Magdaleno Marcu, Letizia Distante, and Gustavo Romeoni—the four artists who likewise embody Andrea Magnani’s research paths.

While all the artworks seem to flirt with the idea of a perpetually-round-the-corner subject, the exhibition device aims to create a very specific emotional state. This state is reminiscent of the experience found in certain Sunday painters’ exhibitions—a context where the artwork validation processes are “slightly off,” allowing the initial gaze to pass through the works without truly seeing them as such. Instead, it frees them to manifest themselves only later, as a doubt.

[following text by Giovanni Rendina]

Art=Life=Ouch
When an artist decides to write a biography or tell their story, they select, or rather construct, elements through which they define themselves. These elements are summarised, lengthened, shortened, twisted, kneaded, extinguished, and ignited. The way in which artists and art communicate, in fact, alongside various artefacts, consists of a series of statements that serve as a corollary to the work, defining it and contributing to its construction. We could therefore assert that alongside formal values, there are discursive values that intertwine with them. This mode is adopted not only by many artists but also by just as many exhibition spaces.

Often, if it concerns a commercial exhibition space, the choices regarding these narratives are shaped by a precise plan aimed at an economic function. “We are interested in emphasising its historical or formal relevance.” “We are interested in whether the artist appears more or less politically aligned.” “We are interested in making them appear sufficiently ‘exotic’.” A similar discourse could be said for institutional exhibition spaces. In such cases, narrative constructions are often realised for reasons of historicising artistic heritage or for the institution’s engagement in a political sense. Just to give a few examples, we could mention the valorisation of the nation, inclusivity, and raising awareness on environmental issues.

So, a doubt arises. What does the independent space do? Once it is understood that commercial and public institutions have their own mission, for which they set
in motion like a machine that produces narratives, it remains to be understood why an independent space activates a procedure entirely similar, made up of openings, photographic documentation, exhibition leaflets, etc.

“Because art is life!” a fool would respond. Certainly foolish is the one who has not realised that they are constructing themselves through artistic modalities that are nothing but a manner, a practice, a gesture as normal as clocking in. With the difference that if art is life, the time clock is never punched, and one is always in a constant chain of self-production. The self thus becomes somehow controlled by the need for success, with all that entails. Processes of apparent politicisation, self-exoticisation, cosy friendships, ass-kissing, and bitter smiles.
Instead, staging allows the artist to close up shop at a certain hour and return to the world to mind their own fucking business.

Full documentation on request

During the Special Opening performance, an actor portrayed Luigi Canè, the gallerist of the newly formed Trapezio Gallery, engaging with the public and describing the practices of Théo van Breukelman, Magdaleno Marcu, Letizia Distante, and Gustavo Romeoni—the four artists who likewise embody Andrea Magnani’s research paths.

Full documentation on request

The site-specific intervention for the riverside space creates an olfactory and spatial deviation within elements already present on site. Through brief, inconclusive additions to the park’s existing network of paths, the natural course of passers-by is gently diverted toward a precise vantage point, where an altered olfactory presence can be experienced. By subtly shifting the conditions that allow certain traces to be recognised as genuine artistic gestures, the work invites attention to pass through without settling—allowing it to surface only later, or perhaps never, as a lingering doubt.

Full documentation on request

[following text by Bryce Grates]

While observing the nights sky, our ancestors started to gather stars into constellations. They began to aggregate the inexplicable into meaningful patterns. In the same way as today, we observe the complex reality that surrounds us, often resulting in a creative act capable of organizing it, not only to explain it, but in order to handle it. This meaning-making attitude has pushed us to design objects, laws, languages, cities or architectures, sometimes out of necessity, other times out of desire.

In La Terrasse, Magnani’s areas of research converge into an environment where this process is staged, reproducing a complex and generative tension between each object on view. This environment has been meticulously constructed by Magnani, with every object participating in a visual and sensual balancing act. The viewer is haunted by a distilled reality, surrounded by familiar objects they would find in a subterranean bar.

Situated on a table is a cash register, which takes on a role based on the Greek myth The Oracle of Delphi. According to the myth, The Oracle would give cryptic predictions and guidance to both the city-states and individuals. Upon approaching the oracle cash register, it produces a prediction in the form of a receipt – the numbers presented as your total bill can be decoded using La Smorfia, a Neapolitan tradition used to analyze dreams using numbers ranging from 1 through 90.

La Terrasse negotiates what makes an authentic ambiance or object attractive to it’s viewer. Magnani seeks to make sense of these overlapping realities by creating his own. Whether that be drawings, “fake readymades”, or reimagined everyday objects, every work aids in creating a multifaceted layered narrative. Occasionally, the space will be activated and turned into a real bar, which further erodes the boundary between reality and representation. Depending on the moment in which the work is encountered, the viewers’ accepted reality of the exhibition will shift, giving rise to a paradox. The moment the work is encountered, it enters a stage where everything and nothing is authentic.

Full documentation on request

Perhaps Empire is a performative environment designed for an original, non-fictional role-playing game, set within Villa Farinacci—an Italian Rationalist building constructed in 1940 for fascist hierarch Roberto Farinacci. A group of four young female players, together with a master—the artist Costanza Candeloro—activated the installation over four game sessions. Seated on stacks of fascist newspapers, the players interpreted themselves under the master’s guidance within a meta-real setting. Every sculptural element of the environment was crafted from scratch—a kind of fake ready-made—specifically conceived for the Villa and for the game.

Full documentation on request

On the left side, Gli Ebeti di M. is a contemplative scale suspended from the skylight by a rusty metal chain. The work features two grotesque faces sculpted from a single block of durmast oak—one side carved at night, the other during daylight. Two oxidised brass weight-necklaces hang from their mouths, filled with white circular scabs, where irregularity seems to determine the tool’s orientation.

On the right side, Enìopi takes the form of a workstation—a small dolmen carved in Vicenza stone, accompanied by a series of ceramic and wrought-iron objects. The sculpture was used to produce plaster scabs, cast directly around the weight in a soil mould that resisted control. On the right-hand wall, two untitled pencil drawings Senza Titolo, illuminated by oil lamps, appear to replicate the exhibition’s mechanism within the viewer’s gaze.

Full documentation on request

Exhibited at the online exhibition Orrido 120, hosted by Swan Station legacy, curated by Something Must Break and Zoë De Luca, Text by Zoë De Luca, documentation by Something Must Break, partnership with Flatland by O Fluxo: www.ofluxo.net/orrido120

Full documentation on request

[following text by Rosa Tyhurst, Capriccio 2000, 2019]

Andrea Magnani’s hybrid practice fuses art and product design with a fervent investigation of ancient mythology, rituals and symbolism. These overlapping forces serve to produce sculptures, installations and performances in which dense and chaotic stories swirl together in a contemporary form of witchcraft. Magnani sees his works as systems that are ongoing and generative, subject to change, revisions and further development. For Capriccio 2000, Magnani revisits The Divination Running Project, 2012-ongoing, the first in a series of fictional brands he has created that exemplify his belief in how corporate and brand identities will become the hallowed symbols of the future. Taking the steady and rhythmic ritual of running and its reported links to psychic transcendence as inspiration, Magnani worked with clothing designer Enrico Assirelli to produce a new exercise shirt alongside a series of other high performance items including towels, bespoke packaging and display devices. However, instead of using a fabric that ‘wicks-away’ sweat (de rigueur in contemporary sportswear) he selected a material that would make it appear more visible. After running in the shirt, ghostly, salty stains would emerge and stay fixed on the fabric. Following extensive research into the chakras, the deconstructed garment acts as an abstract tool for divination comparable to tasseography, actualising the affirming slogan for the brand: YOU ARE THE ANSWER.

Full documentation on request

The work is part of an experimental platform for initiating dialogue with plants. Laminated iron is amplified by a pair of exciters that, every five minutes, transmit a question in binary code, vocalised in the C major scale. A small oak sapling listens and grows in a stoneware vase punctuated by 8×8=64 circular holes. Now placed in a forest, the vase waits for roots to emerge.

Full documentation on request

Semecieco (Blindseed) is a readable field and vessel hosting a spontaneous garden—an attempt to build a shared communicative ground between plant-based, naturally sensitive intelligence and our own sense-making instinct. Currently filled with neutral soil, the vessel is installed in a forest on a mountain near the artist’s hometown. It now waits for something to grow inside.

Full documentation on request

Om the Lam is an interactive installation in which visitors are invited to meditate in the lotus position for ten minutes, with a refrigerated gel ice pack—designed for the practice of the derivative bath—applied to the perineum. Participants are instructed to focus on a video/sound logo loop used as a mantra. Derivative baths are not medicinal but are considered a daily natural hygiene practice. They involve cooling the perineum for a few minutes each day to stimulate circulation and help expel liquid fats. This can be done with cold-water sponging or with poches de gel—ice bags developed by the method’s inventor.

Full documentation on request

In the vast infinity of life, all is perfect, whole and complete is an installation used by the artist as a mystical gym for the simultaneous care of body and soul. It consists of a series of display stations designed for three fictional branded products: (1) Aurela, a bottle of relaxing mineral water infused with gold found by the artist in an Italian river—somewhere between mass-market hydration and an alchemical elixir of life; (2) TDRP, a divination T-shirt where sweat stains can be read like coffee grounds; and (3) Om the Lam, a perineum-cooling gel pack speculating on the connection between mantra meditation and derivative bathing.

Full documentation on request

Sistema S (S System) is an installation composed of several departments connected to a brass cylinder used to produce black soap bubbles. The work restages the genesis of the solar system as a workshop, carried out before the exhibition as a series of experimental attempts to produce an answer.

Full documentation on request

Cptéubzeslub is a writing desk carved from Carrara marble. Its outlines follow forms that appear to exist in nature. Its meaning remains a secret—an open rebus awaiting resolution.

Full documentation on request