Gennariello

Isabelle Cornaro
Luca Frei
Alessandra Mancini
Ken Okiishi

Falke Pisano
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Oscar Tuazon

"Gennariello" is a series of letters Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote for publication in the newspaper Corriere della Sera between March and October 1975, shortly before his murder that November. The letters are addressed to an imaginary student named Gennariello, a young boy from Naples. Writing as a teacher to his pupil, Pasolini employed this metaphoric stratagem to develop his analysis of various themes, including semiology, politics, aesthetics and sexuality.

The inspiration for this group show at BaliceHertling is the work of Pasolini, particularly the topics raised in "Gennarielo”: the pedagogical influence of objects ("the discourse of things") and their linguistic power, intellectuals’ cynical acceptation of history, the conformism of modern society, and the irreversible damages provoked by progress.

Although it does not presume to translate the complexity of "Gennariello" into a single exhibition, the show will be a starting point for a project structured as an open platform for external proposals to be integrated into future gallery activity.