An exhibition project conceived as a dialogue between the practices of Sara Ravelli and Melanie Ebenhoch, in response to the embroidered work Torna La Dea al Suo Tempio (1944) by Maria Morino Savinio. The first group show in Tuscany featuring artists Melanie Ebenhoch and Sara Ravelli marks the continuation of Ondo’s exhibition program, expanding its research through collaborations with both international and 20th-century artists. On the occasion of the opening, Ondo Agenda No. 2 will be available, featuring textual contributions by Kasia Fudakowski and Ruggero Savinio. The works will be on view from March 8th to May 4th, 2025, at Ondo.
Maria Morino Savinio’s production, deeply rooted in a domestic and intimate universe, symbolically combines with the research of Ravelli and Ebenhoch, creating a three-voice dialogue within Ondo’s spaces. The works, created specifically for the exhibition—Merry-go-round (2025), a moving sculpture featuring a crow, originally part of a carnival float, endlessly circling with a torch wedged in its beak, and Still life with flies (2025), a large still life subverting Flemish tradition through the unexpected presence of cherub-insects and volumes seemingly emerging from the canvas—evoke metamorphosis and correspondences between human and animal attributes. This dimension of transformation is also linked to the owl in Torna La Dea al Suo Tempio (1944), Maria Morino Savinio’s embroidery on raw canvas, which reproduces the iconography of her husband’s eponymous painting.
The settings of “Dial Dialogue Dial” reference theatrical scenography, where props, evocative techniques, and materials contribute to constructing complex physical and psychological architectures. Through reversals, contrasts, and unexpected elements, the three stories, three protagonists, and three settings intertwine like threads in this narrative tapestry, where the works present themselves at times as caricatures with an apparent moral undertone, at times as revisited myths, and at times as bold iconographic assemblages. Spaces teetering between interior and exterior merge through unexpected twists, where the cinematic tension of domestic scenes dissolves into symbolic and spatial subversions, while theatrical gravitas alternates with irreverent irony.
Imagined dialogues, silent conversations, and telephone wires not only connect the exhibited works but also permeate the very subjects, helping to define an intimate space in which to recall and rewrite personal narratives. “Dial Dialogue Dial” originates from the discovery of the history and work of Maria Morino Savinio, which we have chosen to weave together with those of Sara Ravelli and Melanie Ebenhoch in a single narrative, to recount the invisible threads that unite the works of these three artists across generations and languages.
With deep sadness, we express our condolences for the recent passing of Ruggero Savinio, renowned artist and son of Maria Morino Savinio. Without his invaluable support, along with that of his wife Annelisa Alleva, this exhibition would not have been possible. His artistic and cultural legacy will continue to inspire us and live on through his works.
at Ondo, Pistoia
until May 4, 2025
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