Theatre as a Place for Art

Mazzoleni returns to Art Basel in both Galleries and Unlimited Sectors.

Within the Galleries Sector, the project "Theatre as a Place for Art", explores the question: What is an art fair, if not a stage for performance?

Through the works of renowned 20th Century Italian masters—Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978), Lucio Fontana (1899–1968), Alberto Burri (1915–95), Piero Manzoni (1933–63), Fausto Melotti (1901–86), Agostino Bonalumi (1935–2013), and Salvo (1947-2015)—the exhibition space transforms into an immersive setting, inviting visitors to experience and interpret. The booth structure, directly inspired by Burri’s original design for Teatro Continuo (1973), serves as both the scenery and wings of the presentation.

This theatrical dimension is further enhanced by the presentation of Piero Manzoni’s Base Magica—Scultura vivente (1961, exhibition copy). Visitors are encouraged to step onto the pedestal and become protagonists of their own moment of performance. As Manzoni declared, “Any person or object placed on it, as long as it remained there, became a work of art.”

In the Unlimited Sector, the gallery presents We Rise by Lifting Others (2023) by Marinella Senatore, selected by curator Giovanni Carmine as the sole living Italian female artist in this edition. Known for her monumental light sculptures, or luminarie, that function as platforms for collective expression, Senatore unveils a 34-metre-long installation first seen at NOOR Festival Riyadh.

Reimagined for Art Basel with a refreshed colour palette and new textual messages, this iteration remains deeply rooted in community collaboration. The sculpture’s illuminated phrases—“We Rise by Lifting Others” (attributed to Robert G. Ingersoll) and “I Contain Multitudes” (from Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself)—were originally chosen by female inmates in Florence and residents of underrepresented neighbourhoods in Naples. Through this recontextualisation, Senatore reinforces her commitment to uniting communities through art.

Mazzoleni is a leading Post-War Italian and contemporary art gallery based in London and Turin. With nearly 40 years of activity, Mazzoleni focuses on a museum-calibre exhibition programme and participates in the main international art fairs, including Art Basel and Frieze, as well as Artissima, Artefiera and Miart. Most recently, the gallery has expanded its reach towards new art scenes with its participation in Frieze Seoul, Art Abu Dhabi and Art Dubai. The Mazzoleni collection is exhibited in museums and institutions worldwide, such as: the Centre Pompidou and Palais de Tokyo in Paris; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York; the Smithsonian Institution in Washington; Tate and the Estorick Collection in London.

Press office London, Jessica Calcutt: T +44 7585142172 / press@mazzoleniart.com. Press office Turin, Lucile Brun: T +39 3400664675 / E: lucile@mazzoleniart.com. mazzoleniart.com.