With You, With All — Chiara Camoni's Italian Pavilion

With You, With All — Chiara Camoni's Italian Pavilion

Chiara Camoni, curated by Cecilia Canziani, presents an installation for the Italian Pavilion where contrasts of light and material shape an immersive experience: sculptures and composite floors relate at near-human scale.

The entrance shifts tempo: after the Arsenale’s louder tones, the first gallery is intentionally dim and described as a silent procession or a silent wood. Here are the works called Colonne, Sister and Daimon, modelled in coil-built clay or composed from hundreds of terracotta fragments. The figures vary — some display defined features, others remain open forms — and are combined with plants, shells, stones and found detritus gathered near the artist’s studio.

The second, lit gallery functions as a world in progress: natural elements, artifacts and recycled objects extend Camoni’s reflection on material transformation. At the center stand a Venus and three Odalisques, seemingly born from sea foam or a riverbank, placed on a large recycled-plastic floor that mirrors a watery surface.

Along the sides, the Casette—domestic-shaped works made from recombined and painted furniture—house the Dialogues section. This selection links Camoni’s practice with other languages and timelines via an ensemble of objects: amphorae, watercolours, sculptures, photographs, installations and ritual bread among them, creating a network of resonances.

• Main materials: clay, terracotta, plants, recycled plastic, found materials.
• Interpretive angles: co-creation, material metamorphosis, dialogue across histories and media.
• Visitor effect: a sensory route alternating contemplation, wonder and attentive listening.

The curatorial approach echoes the artist’s collaborative practice: the pavilion becomes a space of exchange and mutual transformation. Visitors are encouraged to move slowly through the rooms, to notice material details and to trace links between the anthropomorphic figures and the works presented in the Dialogues section.

Visitor tips: allow time to read works in relation to one another; focus on material details (clay, fragments, recycled plastic); look for connections between the figurative sculptures and the dialogue pieces.