Affective Scaffolds, Domestic Use — Solo show by Federica Balconi

Affective Scaffolds, Domestic Use — Federica Balconi

Traffic Gallery stages a solo exhibition by Federica Balconi, curated by Sara Parolini. The show features new works and recent reinterpretations exploring the relationship between technical objects, classical architectural forms and the domestic sphere, producing an imagery where function, affection and irony intersect.

Balconi's practice often extracts codified elements — capitals, friezes, mechanical parts — from their original contexts and places them in intimate, everyday environments. This displacement subverts original functions, converting rigid technical logic into fragile, poetic devices described by the curator as "impossible machines."

Highlighted works include:

• Toc Toc: two rams that brush against each other instead of breaking doors, turning an act of force into an almost affectionate meeting.
• Capitello 01, 02, 03: an ironic take on the Ionic capital, resembling a printer that ejects rolled blank sheets—formally echoing the volutes while stripping functional purpose.
• The Boredom and The Jealousy: fragments of frieze that confront construction scaffolding, losing celebratory status to become familiar, fragile structures.

Pastel surfaces, soft shapes and welcoming proportions offer an initially playful reading, yet every piece contains an internal friction that undermines simplicity and reveals intimate, ambiguous layers. The clashes between bodies, functions and meanings become moments of transformation rather than mere conflict.

Short bio: Federica Balconi (Monza, 1999) graduated from Accademia di Belle Arti G. Carrara in Bergamo and continued at the Sculpture Biennium of Accademia di Brera. Her work blends design, mechanics and architectural references, favoring deliberately precarious compositional solutions that question material functionality.

Practical information

• Date & time: Saturday 11 April 2026, 18:00 - 20:00
• Venue: Traffic Gallery, Via San Tomaso 92, Bergamo
• Organizer: Traffic Gallery
• Contacts: Tel. +39 035 0602882 — Email: [email protected]

The exhibition encourages a reassessment of technical and ornamental elements as domestic and relational presences: construction components become prompts for reflecting on tensions between care, violence, function and everyday memory.