FRANCESCA BANCHELLI



CV

PAINTINGS
PERFORMANCES
INSTALLATIONS & EXHIBITIONS
DRAWINGS
VIDEO
PUBLICATIONS






2023
AFTERNOON

2020
The Fugitive (Apocalisse)

2019
The Fugitive

2018
Before the name. After the mountain

2017
TRY DIE

2016
Before the name - Manifesta 11
Before the name - MACBA

2015
Before the name - Spazio k/Villa Romana
Precious Stone - Capella MACBA
Precious Stone - Italian Embassy in Berlin
Before the name - Wilkinson Gallery
Fetching Bridges (endlessly)

2013
A copy produced by this process
Our soul is a presence

2012
One day I'll faint to the floor
Chiedi a Orlando (Ask Orlando)
----->>The Sunshine Vineyard (Our Ideal Revolutionary Storm)
Towards the earth

2011
L' Abbigliamento
This is a presage (in - existence)
(Horizon) the youngest phenomena
Assioma della scelta

2010
The birds would sing in the other room
The man under the skin

2009
Socìetas: dalla terra al cielo
Three iced blackboards (part II)

 THE SUNSHINE VINEYARD (OUR IDEAL REVOLUTIONARY STORM)

2012
Produced by Deutsche Börse Residency Program, Frankfurter Kunstverein

Performance by Francesca Banchelli, guest of Deutsche Börse Residency Program, Frankfurter Kunstverein

Directed by Francesca Banchelli
Live set: Emiliano Zelada
Performance and 2 HD video - 8 mins and 17 mins, color, sound
with: Francesca Banchelli, Beniamino Brogi, Letizia Calori, Aline Fieker, Marlene Friese, Violette Maillard, Xue Motov, Yuki Kishino, Kath Wit
Sound: Emiliano Zelada, Camera: Bernd Thiele, Sound Engineer: Ralph Mann

The Sunshine Vineyard (Our Ideal Revolutionary Storm) is a performance that turns into a film set, performed by a group of students from the Städelschule in Frankfurt on the "recreational" bank side of the river Main. Waving big satin flags of the sunset’s colours, enlighten by the sun’s backlight, the action wants to recall an event addressed against the "Big Unknowns", symbolically identified as the “Sunset”, which takes place behind the banks on the other riverside. The battle against the Sunset wants to reflect on the reality of a strategy of the ignorance, adopted to investigate on how masses can be exploited as a resource, once potentially directing them towards it (The Strategy of Unknown). The whole group will exploit this theory, as an act of awareness. Performing impact actions, resembling a warʼs paradigm of chaotic-calm, they turn their gestures into personal dances, reaching a choral action of which they are authors. The Sun responds to the battle, by illuminating their bodies and flags, until leaving them in the darkness, disappearing behind the Frankfurt’s skyline. The action was shot both by the inside of the action and from the outside, resulting in two videos, which have been shown several times inside an installation constituted by a curtain - turning into the screen of the video taken from the outside, a bench with an iPad with headphones - supporting the video taken from the inside, and the original flags, used for the performance.

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photo by Jule Hillgaertner

Press release

During her stay in Frankfurt in conjunction with the Deutsche Börse Residency Program, the artist Francesca Banchelli is realizing a work titled THE SUNSHINE VINEYARD (OUR IDEAL REVOLUTIONARY STORM), which has been conceived as a work in progress. The project arises from the question as to why a group or a community is formed, how it is nurtured, and how it interacts with given realities. During her time in Frankfurt Francesca Banchelli has been talking with people from different backgrounds, introducing her project to them, discussing with them, and asking them to take part in a “collective action on the bank of the river.Banchelli’s exploration of the city of Frankfurt corresponds to the exponential increase in the number of dialogues on varying themes that she conducted over this time, and this has increasingly become the purpose of her presence in the city throughout her residency. Her work has gradually taken shape over time. Her approach to research as “an experiment in an open field” is the “first dimension of democratic debate” with people that Banchelli has met in Frankfurt. This process demonstrates two elements of the work, which are very relevant at this time. First, Banchelli observes the practices of “angry citizens”, which agitate public opinion and have occupied different public spaces in order to protest the situations that have defined the economic crisis. Second, the artist draws on the limits of practices of political and relational art that have developed over the past ten years reflecting on artists’ attempts to “rediscover reality” or “save the world.” Banchelli probes the boundaries of the demands made by individual and points to the possibilities that individuals or groups have—as active participants or observers—in contemporary media society. She explores the current role of cultural dialogue and the “art community” and the role both could play in the future. Why is this action being carried out? Is it an act of protest or a work of art? Why should we allow ourselves to become involved in all of this? These questions form the basis of the discussion among members of a “group that is a momentary and constantly shifting formation;” they also define two key elements of the project. One is Banchelli’s artist talk on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 in the Frankfurter Kunstverein, which will focus on her work and the presentation of the new project. The other is the day of “collective action” on Friday, September 7, 2012 on the bank of the Main. Incorporating the successive stages of this process-based work, a video work will be created about the action and will show all the tensions that surfaced in the dialogue between group members and the opposition expressed towards the concept.