A PROGRAMME ON SEX AND SELF-DISPLAY
Il Colorificio is pleased to present the book L’Ano Solare. A year-long programme on sex and self-display, published by Axis Axis, Turin / Italy.
L’Ano Solare. A year-long programme on sex and self-display is the outcome of a research on sexuality, performativity, and self-representation in the field of visual and performing arts. The title of the publication homages the book of the same name by Georges Bataille, in which the concept of anality – as a political device able to challenge patriarchy and heteronormativity – is the sun of a situated understanding and a radical epistemology.
The volume condenses the reflections articulated in L’Ano Solare. A year-long programme on sex and self-display, a programme structured in seven episodes and composed by exhibitions, performances, screenings, and lectures. The programme featured thirty-three authors and took place between 2019 and 2021 at Il Colorificio in Milan, at Teatrino Palazzo Grassi in Venice and at Casa Testori in Novate Milanese.
The book L’Ano Solare is a collective body, composed by essays, letters, erotic stories, confessions, poems, and visual archives by the contributors Lorenzo Bernini, Natalia Cabezas, Giulia Crispiani, Caterina De Nicola, Beatrice Favaretto, Giovanna Maina, Jacopo Miliani, Mariacarla Molè, Giorgia Ohanesian Nardin, Linda Porn Davis, Luca Scarlini, The School of the End of Time, Giovanni Testori, TOMBOYS DON’T CRY and Francesco Tola.
The backbone of the book consists in a dense essay by Il Colorificio that introduces, contextualizes and expands each contribution featured in the book. The text traces a fictional story intersecting local mythologies with personal anecdotes, political experiences, and contemporary artistic practices: from the disciplinary power of the catholic devotional device of the Sacred Mounts to the performative potential of language; from the practices of self-defence and terrorism in relation to the body and sexuality (stemming from Italian armed struggle, to postporn) to the urgent need to regain possession of the public space.
The launch of L’Ano Solare. A year-long programme on sex and self-display will be hosted at Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona – MACBA, Barcelona (ES) on January 14th.
Further presentations will be held at Casa Testori, Novate Milanese (IT); MAN Museo d’arte della Provincia di Nuoro (IT); Centrala, Birmingham (UK); MZIN, Leipzig (DE).
L’Ano Solare. A year-long programme on sex and self-display is supported by the Italian Council (8th Edition, 2020), program to promote Italian contemporary art in the world by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture.
The cultural partners of the project are: Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona – MACBA, Barcelona (ES), Casa Testori, Novate Milanese (IT); MAN Museo d’arte della Provincia di Nuoro (IT); Centrala, Birmingham (UK); MZIN, Leipzig (DE).
The book is available to order online from Axis Axis and at selected book stores.