Exceptional opening: exhibitions, films, concerts
6 & 7 December, 14.00 – 19.00
8, 9 & 10 December, 10.00 – 19.00
As part of the exhibition Stories of Stones
Special prices: 7€ / 5€
Free for SOLO, DUO, TRIBU card holders
The exhibitions, screenings and readings are accessible with the ticket of the exceptional opening. However, the free concert on December 7th requires a separate reservation.
Villa Medici opens its doors to unveil its interior spaces, rarely accessible to the public: explore the historic rooms up to the courtyard of the inner facade, passing through the exhibition rooms as part of the Stories of Stones exhibition! On these exceptional days, a program centered around the theme of stones will be presented, featuring readings and a musical journey by the Ensemble Calliopée. And a cinematograpic selection and a concert by Félicia Atkinson and Christina Vantzou, curated by Vittoria Bonifati.
THE WHOLE DAY | EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS
EXHIBITIONS
- Stories of Stones, 200 masterpieces by Guido Reni, Damien Hirst, as well as Rodin and Picasso
- The Cliffs of Bâmiyân, by Pascal Convert
- Exhibition by Anne James Chaton
SCREENINGS
- Cinematic journey through the salons – Historic rooms
With films by: Yasmine Benabderrahmane, Jimmie Durham, Barry Flanagan, Nancy Holt, Mikhail Karikis & Uriel Orlow and Laure Prouvost
The program is curated by Vittoria Bonifati
PROGRAM | READINGS, SCREENINGS AND CONCERTS
WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER
- 17.30 – 20.00
Cinema room
Film screenings
John Latham, Erth (1971), 24′
Cyprien Gaillard, Ocean II Ocean (2019), 11′
Ian Hamilton Finlay, Little Sparta (2005), 25′
Maeve Brennan, Jerusalem Pink (2015), 41′
Amie Siegel, Quarry (2015), 34′
Program curated by Vittoria Bonifati
- 18.00
Grand Salon
François Farges, Stefano Salis, Géraldine Leardi, Edoardo Pepino and Carlo Ossola
WRITTEN IN STONE, Minerals collected and described by Roger Caillois
Published by Franco Maria Ricci Editions
(FR / IT)
The reading by Pierre Adrian and the launch of the guide Saintes Pierres de Rome, 20 flâneries depuis la Villa Médicis scheduled for today at 17.00 will not take place and will be postponed until a date to be announced.
Books for sale at the bookshop and after the presentation
THURSDAY 7 DECEMBER
- 15.00 – 17.00
Exhibitions rooms, Balthus Studio
Ensemble Calliopée
With Karine Lethiec, artistic director and viola; Anne-Cécile Cunit, flute; Carjez Gerretsen, clarinet; Krystof Maratka, composer and archaic trans-instruments and the participation of composers Philippe Hersant, Graciane Finzi, Philippe Schoeller and Benoît Menut.- 15.00: Musical journey
Performance of the piece ARMEN for viola by Benoît Menut, a creation paying homage to the Saint Bélec slab, the presumed first topographical map.
Interpreted by Karine Lethiec, followed by a collective creation by the Ensemble Calliopée. - 16.15: Musical pieces for harp and flute in the Studio Balthus
- 15.00: Musical journey
A detailed programme of the event will be distributed at the entrance of the Villa Medici.
With the support of the Institut français de Paris, the City of Paris and the CNM, Centre national de la musique (National Music Centre)
- 19.45
Grand Salon
Félicia Atkinson and Christina Vantzou
The rocks are our home
Electronic performance combining piano, voice, field recordings, and small instruments.
45′
In collaboration with Villa Lontana Records
→ RESERVATION
THE STORIES OF STONES EXHIBITION
STORIES OF STONE
200 masterpieces by Guido Reni, Damien Hirst, as well as Rodin and Picasso
Curators: Sam Stourdzé and Jean de Loisy
23.10.2023 – 14.01.2024
Accompanied by the prose of writer Roger Caillois, the Stories of Stones exhibition brings together nearly 200 works, from the oldest terrestrial mineral dating back 4.4 billion years to the latest mineral created by contemporary artist Agnieszka Kurant, the Sentimentite. The exhibition is organized with the support of Van Cleef & Arpels.
THE ARTISTS
Pierre Adrian
Reading and performance on 6 December
Pierre Adrian (France, 1991) is a writer. In 2015, he published his first book La Piste Pasolini an initiatory travel narrative tracing the footsteps of the Italian poet and filmmaker, for which he received the Prix des Deux-Magots and the Prix François-Mauriac from the French Academy. As a fellow at Villa Medici (2023 – 2024), he dedicates his residency project to writing a novel that explores the history and exploitation of Carrara marble, blending politics, ecology, and the duality of the stone quarry as a place of creation and destruction.
The Ensemble Calliopée – Karine Lethiec, artistic director and viola
Anne-Cécile Cunit, flute; Carjez Gerretsen, clarinet; Krystof Maratka, composer and archaic trans-instruments and the participation of composers Philippe Hersant, Graciane Finzi, Philippe Schoeller, Benoît Menut.
Musical journey on 7 December
Founded in 1999, the Calliopée Ensemble is a music ensemble composed of internationally renowned artists. Its mission is to convey, through the emotion of music, a passion for works of musical heritage and curiosity for contemporary creation. The Calliopée Ensemble conceives and performs interdisciplinary programs and shows in the fields of arts, history, and science. In parallel with its performance at Villa Medici, the Calliopée Ensemble will present its MUSICoMAN project on Thursday, December 6th, at 9:00 PM at La Pelanda, as part of the Nuova Consonanza Festival.
Félicia Atkinson
Concert on 7 December
For Félicia Atkinson, human voices inhabit an ecology alongside and within many other things that don’t speak in the conventional sense: landscapes, images, books, memories, ideas. The French electro-acoustic composer and visual artist makes music that animates these other possible voices in conversation with her own, collaging field recording, MIDI instrumentation, and snippets of essayistic language in French and English. Atkinson uses composing as a way to process imaginative and creative life, frequently engaging with the work of visual artists, filmmakers, and novelists. She has exhibited in museums, galleries, and biennials including RIBOCA Biennale (Riga), Overgaden (Copenhagen), BOZAR (Brussels), Espace Paul Ricard (Paris), and MUCA ROMA (Mexico City).
Christina Vantzou
Concert on 7 December
Christina Vantzou is a Greek-American composer and sound artist based in Brussels. She develops her work over long periods with stimulus from travel, forays into nature and through intense collaboration. She pays close attention to psychoacoustics, affects and the potency of slow stady shifts. In recent years, field & hydro recording have become a core element of her work, interwoven with sparse instrumentals and occasional orchestral blooms. Vantzou presented her work in in spaces such as the Philharmonie de Paris, Barbican (London), BOZAR (Brussels), Kölner Philharmonie (Cologne), The National Observatory of Athens.
THE CURATOR
Vittoria Bonifati is a curator based in Rome. She runs Villa Lontana, an independent art space initiated in 2018 in collaboration with Jo Melvin. Her research explores the relationship between ancient and contemporary practices. In 2019, she launched the record label Villa Lontana Records, focused on the production of new sounds, from electroacoustic to sonorous poetry and field recordings. Since 2021, she curates the experimental 16mm film program 16MM RUN at the MACRO Museum in Rome, featuring avant-garde and experimental films from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s.
In 2022 she curated the ten-year-long exhibition The Colours of Antiquity at the Capitoline Museums, dedicated to polychrome marbles of the imperial age from the Santarelli Foundation. Villa Lontana Records was part of Sirenland within Spaziale. Ognuno appartiene a tutti gli altri, Italian Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Biennial in Venice and curated La Terra delle Sirene Public Program at Museo Madre in Naples. She has curated visual art exhibitions and sound programs in Italy and abroad.
Partners:
JONGLEZ EDITIONS
FRANCO MARIA RICCI EDITIONS
ENSEMBLE CALLIOPÉE
VILLA LONTANA RECORDS
Image credits:
Pictures of the Stories of Stones exhibition © Daniele Molajoli
Potrait of Pierre Adrian © Daniele Molajoli
Potrait of Félicia Atkinson © Félicia Atkinson
Potrait of Christina Vantzou © Christina Vantzou
Portrait of Vittoria Bonifati © Iris Humm