On Saturday 21 January 2023 at 4.30 pm, Studio Cenacchi Arte Contemporanea, Via Santo Stefano 63, Bologna, opens CINEMA INTERIORE, a solo exhibition by Simone Martinetto. The exhibition is curated by Maria Chiara Wang, who has also written the accompanying critical essay.

The exhibition brings together two photographic series, UNEXPECTED CINEMA and I SHUT MY EYES IN ORDER TO SEE. Although they grew out of very different experiences, the two bodies of work share the distinctive sensitivity that shapes both Martinetto’s photography and his way of looking at the world. His images have a quiet poetic depth. Through suggestion and contemplation, everyday moments become subtle and unexpected visual discoveries.

Maria Chiara Wang writes:

“Unexpected Cinema shifts our perspective away from what normally commands our attention. Martinetto photographs the ‘ghostly presences’ — people and objects — that make cinema possible while usually remaining out of sight. Working as a film-set photographer, he captures these fleeting moments as small epiphanies: cinema within cinema, a parallel narrative unfolding alongside the main story, offering another, unexpected way of seeing it.

In I Shut My Eyes in Order to See, the gaze turns inwards. Looking becomes contemplation and silence; the pace slows and the images settle into landscapes of the mind. […] Amid the constant movement of Manhattan, there are people who manage to stop, remain in the present and let their thoughts drift away through meditation. Doyeon is a young Korean Buddhist nun who lives in a small temple surrounded by skyscrapers; Cliff works as an insurance broker; Michael is an athlete who runs 100-kilometre ultramarathons. This series of triptychs is therefore an invitation — in Martinetto’s own words — to close our eyes in order to truly see.”

Alongside CINEMA INTERIORE, a second solo exhibition by Simone Martinetto, SOLLEVARE LO SPECCHIO, opens on Tuesday 24 January at Cinema Lumière, Piazzetta P. P. Pasolini 2/b, at the Cineteca di Bologna. Focusing on Martinetto’s work as a film-set photographer, the exhibition runs until 28 February.

The photographs exhibited at the Cineteca di Bologna are available for purchase through the gallery.

Simone Martinetto
Cinema Interiore
Curated by Maria Chiara Wang
21 January > 18 March 2023

4 February 2023 Art City White Night:
Sonata for cameras and piano
Performance by the artist at: 7.00 pm, 9.30 pm, 11.00 pm

GALLERIA STUDIO CENACCHI
Via Santo Stefano 63
40125 Bologna

OPENING HOURS
Tuesday–Saturday: 4.30–7.30 pm
Monday: by appointment
Sunday: closed