Con lo zucchero in bocca

Con lo zucchero in bocca Gianfranco Baruchello, Binta Diaw, Gina Fischli, Pauline Julier, Oz Oderbolz, Sergio Rojas Chaves, Virginie Sistek, Milva Stutz The group exhibition Con lo zucchero in bocca (With Sugar in One’s Mouth) explores the relationship between resource extraction and sweetness. The project is inspired by the villa that now houses the Istituto Svizzero in Rome, formerly owned by Carolina Maraini-Sommaruga and Emilio Maraini, a Ticino pioneer of the beet sugar industry. Taking sugar and the history of its production as a starting point, the exhibition addresses the imagery associated with the exploitation of resources, exposing how notions of sweetness, romance and desire often contribute to softening narratives of domestication and conquest. The exhibition presents both new and existing works by artists working with sculpture, painting, installation and film. Through historical accounts, autobiography, or fiction, the protagonists of these works grapple with the human-constructed concept of nature, questioning the narrative strategies concealing the exploitation of animals, resources, land, and communities. The works in the exhibition address the narrative motifs and images to which we are accustomed in this field, breaking away from the naive, escapist and conciliatory gaze that often characterises them. The title of the exhibition evokes the feeling of sugar in one’s mouth, emphasising the embodiment of grand narratives through personal stories. Spanning from the microscopic to the macroscopic—from something as small as sugar dust to something as vast as a galaxy—the works on display subvert expectations around ecological discourse, offering new and urgent forms of storytelling. Curated by Lucrezia Calabrò Visconti (Head Curator Istituto Svizzero) With the support of: Ernst Göhner Stiftung, RICOLA ITALIA srl, FERRARI TRENTO, Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani for the realisation of Binta Diaw’s work