IT

On 15 February 2025, the installation “Manifestica” at terzospazio in Venice, curated by three students from the Master of Visual Arts and Fashion degree course at the Iuav University of Venice, evoked the dynamics of desire.

The artist-run studio zolforosso born in Venice in 2017 by the will of six former students of the city’s Academy of Fine Arts, is the result of a process of expansion, which has seen it grow and extend its roots towards the mainland. After the opening of the first laboratory space in the Santa Croce district and the victory of a municipal call in 2019, the association, already active in the creation of open studios and artist residences, inaugurated a second headquarters modeled on the idea of white cubes and intended to host exhibition events. In February 2020, shortly before the lockdown, zolforosso chose Mestre as a place to expand its range of action, in response to the Venetian high rents and structural difficulties. Today zolforosso brings together eighteen artists and has three spaces: one in Venice, in Ramo Secondo Carminati, the other in Mestre, in Viale San Marco, and terzospazio, in the Santa Croce area, also in Venice. 

MANIFESTICA IN VENICE

Right here, on 15 February 2025, was held the opening of Manifestica, the installation by Anna Zecchetto, Arianna Boffa and Costanza Mancuso, students from the Master of Visual Arts and Fashion degree course at the Iuav University of Venice. 
Manifestica offered the public the opportunity to take part in the installation-performance, evoking the dynamics of desire and putting in place the technique of the manifestation as a spiritual practice. The installation explored contemporary rituals as real tools of self-determination and resistance to the logics of capitalism. But what does manifestation mean today? 

THE EXHIBITION INSPIRED BY THE PRACTICE OF MANIFESTATION

Rooted in the theory that inspired the law of attraction, the practice of manifestation is based on the assumption that our thoughts can influence the reality in which we live and consequently our most authentic selves. From Instagram to TikTok, this spiritual world, so dear to Gen Z, is beginning to make its way into today’s society, as evidenced by the Venetian installation-performance. Candles, incense, tarot cards, palo santo, laurel leaves, red sage, crystals and even sunset lamps, mirrors, candelabra enhanced the sense of intimacy and the spiritual component of Manifestica. A series of hanging silver threads indicated access to the room dedicated to the act of manifestation. A true contact between the human and the divine, between earth and sky. Entering, the audience experienced the sensation, increased by the presence of a TikTok audio montage, of immersing themselves in a magical dimension. On a table, like a sort of banquet, a few laurel leaves became the vehicle for new wishes, ready to be welcomed and fulfilled. During the performance of the ritual by the public, the presence of performer Chiara De Benedetti, engaged in tarot card reading and manifestation practices, made the aggregative dynamics activated by the installation even more explicit. 
Manifestica gave shape to an altar of possibility, a place of self-determination and resistance characterized by a kitsch and maximalist aesthetic based on the comparison between sacredness and belief, irony and power, human and divine. An invitation to ask oneself: what does it mean to desire, today? 

Martina Giagnolini 

https://zolforosso.weebly.com/

Translated with AI