Ars curandi, curated by Jacopo Cenacchi, is presented at Galleria Studio Cenacchi in Bologna from 17 June to 23 July 2021. The exhibition brings together a selection of photographs from Elena Franco’s recent book Ars curandi (Artema, 2021).

Ars curandi is the latest chapter in Hospitalia, Elena Franco’s distinctive photographic project on historic hospitals in Italy and across Europe, begun in 2012. This new body of work explores the architectural and cultural heritage of three former hospitals, all now museums: the Hospices de Beaune in France, Notre-Dame à la Rose in Lessines, Belgium, and Santa Maria della Scala in Siena, Italy.

None of the buildings photographed by Franco still serves its original purpose. Their function has changed. Yet the works in the exhibition, like the photographs collected in the book that gives the show its title, hold together two different moments in their history: their past as hospitals and their present as museums.

Whether photographing an exterior view or a detail of an interior, Franco reveals what makes each of these places unique. They are monuments to the history of care and hospitality, but also sites that have played a formative role in European civilisation. Her photographs draw our attention to their architecture and art while inviting us to consider the medical and social histories they embody.

As Elena Franco writes:

“I hope that looking at these places anew through photography can contribute to the debate about the future of care. I firmly believe that, while recovery can never be taken for granted, we have a right to care — both physical and spiritual — and that an art of caring, an ars curandi, should guide the choices we make as our society evolves and faces the ethical questions that medicine will pose.”

This ethical dimension is fundamental to Franco’s work. Throughout her artistic practice, there is a sustained concern with the relationship between people, places, history and collective responsibility.

Franco engages closely with the world around her, extending her gaze beyond contemporary experience to the histories that continue to shape the present. Through careful, sustained observation and the language of photography, she brings the essence of this cultural heritage back into view, revealing its enduring role in shaping our sense of community.

Elena Franco
Ars Curandi
Curated by Jacopo Cenacchi

17 June > 28 July 2021

The book Ars Curandi is available at the gallery.

GALLERIA STUDIO CENACCHI
Via Santo Stefano 63
40125 Bologna