On Saturday 19 March at 5 pm, the solo exhibition Luoghi di nostalgia opens at Studio Cenacchi, Via Santo Stefano 63, Bologna, presenting 28 works by Swiss artist Marianne Schmid.

Firmly convinced that art can play a social role, Schmid has consistently developed projects that actively involve the public in the creative process, turning participants into co-authors and co-responsible contributors. This exhibition follows the #iorestoacasa cycle (2020), in which the works originated from what people could see from their windows during the first lockdown.

On 8 November 2020, after a brief period of regained freedom, a second lockdown confined us once again to our homes. It is in this context that Luoghi di nostalgia was conceived. Schmid reached out to her social media contacts with a simple question: “Where would you rather be now?”

This time, the contribution required was not merely documentary but imaginative. Participants were invited to look inward, to identify their own “place of the soul” — recalling recent summers, imagining postponed journeys, or longing to be with loved ones from whom they had been separated.

Through 28 photographs sent by participants, Schmid entered into resonance with each contributor. She transformed these suggestions into layered works: the original images, printed on paper, are partially concealed by a black-and-white reproduction on translucent acetate. This duplication, revealed through openings in the upper layer, invites viewers to move closer and explore these miniature inner worlds.

The emotion of nostalgia — for places and for people — is reactivated each time the viewer approaches the works, entering into a shared resonance with the artist.

The exhibition design leads visitors toward a final, singular piece: framed like an open book, it depicts a sailing boat on the Nile. Luoghi di nostalgia thus concludes with a double gesture of hope — an invitation to open ourselves again to others, and to imagine new journeys, encounters and destinations.