Anna Franceschini, Es ist verdammt heiss hier – Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa

Anna Franceschini is among the ranks of those Italian young artists who decided that being international was the right thing do to, so she divided her life among Italy, USA, Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.
She’s now back to her homeland for a solo exhibition: Es ist verdammt heiss hier is on in Venice, surrounded by the delicate walls of Palazzetto Tito. The exhibition, curated by Milovan Farronato, presents 9 video works and 1 audio installation, a continuous dialogue with the Palace and its visitors.
As you walk into the exhibition rooms, the dark atmosphere drives you inside the videos, that seem to go on without caring if anybody’s watching, while your attention gets focused on nothing else but them.
Es ist verdammt heiss hier – literally, It’s damn hot in here – is an expression used in German pornography when the actors’ body temperature needs to be warmed up, so they can perform sexual intercourse. Franceschini’s videos burn as well, but at the same time, they are as calm and quiet as the air after a fire, or a storm. What the visitor’s eye burns instead is the quick vision of a sunset, of a motorcycle, of a curtain that keeps moving without telling what it’s covering, fleeting moments for fleetings movements.
The videos and the audio installation go with the visitor’s sensations, feed them with expectation, repeating sounds and images until the end of the exhibition.

Anna Franceschini, “Es ist verdammt heiss hier,” curated by Milovan Farronato at Palazzetto Tito in Venice for Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice through May 5, 2013