Lavinia - Parte III

Works by Monika Sosnowska and artist, essayist, poet and political activist Jimmie Durham open the third phase of LAVINIA, the contemporary art project curated by Salvatore Lacagnina, produced by Ghella and promoted by Roma Capitale, Assessorato della Cultura, Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, in collaboration with Zètema Progetto Cultura.

The project pays tribute to the late Mannerist painter Lavinia Fontana, one of the first female artists recognized by art history and featured in the Borghese Gallery collection, and runs parallel to the various phases of restoration of the Loggia dei Vini, the elegant pavilion built by Cardinal Scipione Borghese in the Villa Borghese gardens. A “mango and black sesame” ice cream celebrating summer will add flavor to the inauguration. In the ancient Loggia dei Vini, the cardinal’s guests were entertained with wines and sorbets: for this reason, each LAVINIA inauguration is associated with an ice cream flavor.

Born in Arkansas in 1940 and died in Berlin in 2021, Jimmie Durham was one of the most influential figures in international contemporary art: using painting, sculpture, performance, drawing, sculpture and video, he worked on deconstructing concepts and stereotypes of Western culture, often with profound irony. The work “Jimmie Durham: And Now, So Far In The Future That No One Will Recognise Any Of My Jokes (revisited)” will occupy the center of the loggia. This is a reinterpretation of a project conceived in 2022 for the Fondazione Morra Greco in Naples, bringing together sculptures from the Fondazione Morra Greco collection, objects and books from Durham’s library, selected by Maria Thereza Alves, videos and documents placed in dialogue with a series of poems by the artist translated into Italian by Sacha Piersanti.

Already present on the gate at the first inauguration of LAVINIA, the sculptural work of visual artist Monika Sosnowska, born in Poland in 1972, is based on the appropriation and manipulation of construction materials (such as steel beams, concrete, iron rods and pipes) which lose their original function to take on new formal configurations and challenge the viewer’s perception. In LAVINIA - Part III, “Recinzione” (2025) transforms the Loggia’s railing, a functional architectural element, into a site-specific sculpture, introducing a reflection on the relationship between permanence and transformation.

The two new works join those already created in previous phases of the project: Monika Sosnowska’s handle for opening the entrance gate, Gianni Politi’s seats (revisited for the occasion), Piero Golia’s infinite water fountain and Enzo Cucchi’s sculpture of a wolf, a sort of grate that offers a glimpse of the ancient nymphaeum. The projects is completed by Johanna Grawunder’s light installation along the retaining walls and Ross Birrell & David Harding’s “Dante Desire Line Poetry Path”, which guides visitors towards the Loggia, accompanying them with the words of Dante.