Diana Policarpo
Hyperbolic Dreams
Hyperbolic dreams è un invito a camminare, ascoltare e guardare \ncon curiosità, attenzione e impegno all’ambiente che ci circonda. l’artista restituisce al presente uno sguardo affascinato dal paesaggio e dalla forza della natura, offrendo ai visitatori e alla stessa montegridolfo un diverso punto di vista della sua narrativa
Diana Policarpo, Hyperbolic Dreams, 2022, Montegridolfo (RN), Emilia-Romagna. Ph. Gionata Possenti e Alessandro Rinaldi
Diana Policarpo (Lisboa, 1986) is a visual artist and composer working in visual and musical media including drawing, video, sculpture, text, performance, and multi-channel sound installation. Policarpo investigates gender politics, economic structures, health and interspecies relations through speculative transdisciplinary research. She creates performances and installations to examine experiences of vulnerability and empowerment associated with acts of exposing oneself to the capitalist world.
Her work has been exhibited worldwide including solo presentations at Kunsthall Trondheim; Galeria Municipal do Porto; Centro de Artes Visuais, Coimbra; Galeria Lehmman + Silva, Porto; Belo Campo/Galeria Francisco Fino, Lisbon; GNRtion, Braga; lAB Artists Unlimited, Bielefeld; Kunstverein Leipzig; Xero, Kline and Coma, London; Kunsthall Baden-Baden among others. Policarpo has recently exhibited, performed and screened her work at st_age (Thyssen- Bornemisza Art Contemporary); Maus Hábitos, Porto; Interstício, London; Nottingham Contemporary; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Elvas (MACE); ARCOmadrid; Chiado 8, Lisbon; Kunsthall Oslo (with Marie Kolbæk Iversen); LUX – Moving Image, London; Cafe OTO, London; Guest Projects, London; Tenderpixel, London; Shau Fenster, Berlin; Mars Gallery, Melbourne; Peninsula Gallery, New York; Insitute of Contemporary Arts, London and W139, Amsterdam. Policarpo was the winner of Prémio Novos Artistas Fundação EDP 2019, and of the 21st edition of the Illy Present Future Prize in 2021.
Montegridolfo is an enchanting border village, of about 1000 inhabitants, in the province of Rimini. At one time, it was the first Bastion of the Malatesta Lordship against the Duchy of Urbino. Now, it is on the border of Emilia-Romagna and the Marches. It gets endearingly called a “Marchignolo municipality”, combining the names of the two regions. Being in between the Conca and Foglia valleys means the village has a unique identity where history and landscape merge with man’s work and culture. In 1548, the Madonna appeared in the surrounding countryside where she rested on the millstone of an oil mill as a sign of belonging to the community. This tale is told in the large altarpiece at the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin in Trebbio. From that painting, we discover the Castle and the surrounding countryside; an unchanged landscape that’s subject to protection by the ministerial decree of 1976. From whatever standpoint, the Castle of Montegridolfo appears as an ark floating on a sea of green; the neighbouring fields frame the castle, appearing as pieces of a mosaic. The walls that protect the town, behind which lies a tower or strut attributed to Francesco di Giorgio Martini, lead to the spectacular entrance way to the village that is marked by the large civic tower. After crossing the threshold of the village, you encounter a succession of narrow streets and alleys that offer picturesque views of the houses and hills and on the horizon, the sea. From here, you can see the whole coast starting from Cervia, passing through Cesenatico and Rimini, up to Cattolica before continuing on to Gradara and Pesaro. In the 1990s, the old Malatesta village was carefully renovated through a restoration promoted by the stylist Alberta Ferretti.