You and the Night and the Music

11.04.2025—31.01.2026 | MUSEION Bolzano

The exhibition, curated by Frida Carazzato with the collaboration of the FONDAZIONE BONOTTO, through the curatorial advice of Patrizio Peterlini, uses the museum collection to explore the cultural legacy and artistic vision of Francesco Conz. This important figure, who worked with Fluxus, Visual Poetry and Concrete Poetry artists, played a decisive role in disseminating these artistic practices in Italy and abroad.

The title of the exhibition is taken from a work by Gerhard Rühm, a visual artist, musician, poet and co-founder of the Wiener Gruppe, and one of the first artists with whom Francesco Conz began producing large-format editions.

The You and the Night and the Music title stimulates reflections on the relationship between art, time and the links between artists, collectors and museum institutions. The conjunction “and” in the artwork becomes, in the title of the exhibition, a metaphor for both the network of cultural connections that has given rise to one of the main hubs in the Museion collection and the figure of Conz, whose passion bound together artistic and human experiences.

A number of collectors and art critics, in fact, have played a fundamental role in the history of the museum collection. People like Paolo Della Grazia, who donated his collection to the museum in 2020, Luigi Bonotto, Henry Martin and many others, have helped to create an artistic heritage that is now an essential reference point for the study of neo-avant-gardes. Thanks to their activities, Museion has been able to enrich its collection with a body of works that bears witness to the value of publishing and screenprint production as a means of disseminating contemporary art.

The exhibition is located in the central area of Museion Passage, a space designed to host dynamic installations that are open to the public. The central and corner sections – the latter can be visited until November 16 2025 – present a selection of screenprints on canvas produced by Conz and designed to be easy to transport and exhibit in various contexts. These works interact through videos, artists’ multiples and other editions to create an experience that reflects on the art of publishing both as an artistic tool and as an effective space of cross-genre exchange, in harmony with the Fluxus spirit.

The exhibition is further enhanced by a number of volumes of "La Livre", Francesco Conz’s last publishing project which has only recently seen the light, and which will be exhibited here for the first time in Italy. The work, whose lengthy production is closely linked to the Brunnenburg Castle near Merano, is dedicated entirely to the artists invited by Conz to pay homage to the poet Ezra Pound, who lived in the castle for fourteen years. "La Livre" has been produced by Archivio Conz Berlin.
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You and the Night and the Music.
Edizioni Francesco Conz dalla Collezione Museion

11.04.2025—31.01.2026
MUSEION Bolzano

Press preview: 11.04.2025, 11:00 am
Opening: 11.04.2025, 7:00 pm
Museion Passage and Piccolo Museion - Cubo Garutti
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