“For me art is a space where shame has no place. Only by leaving shame and other strong negative emotions behind can I talk to others in a powerful way.” — Fiorenza Pancino
This is the credo of Fiorenza Pancino, the 2024 Esperienza artist in residence from Italy. She was born near Venice, but has lived and worked in the city of Faenza* in Emilia-Romagna for over 20 years. She is deeply passionate about ceramics, which she says — not unlike her — is sensitive to sudden changes in temperature. However, she also uses other media, such as videos, photography and materials, like paper and fabric, in her artistic endeavors.
Recent projects include an International Ceramic Residency at Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, China and at Ceratekno, Toki, Japan. Fiorenza has exhibited at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome, at the Sogo Museum of Art in Yokohama in Japan, at the International Gyeonggi Ceramic Biennale in Icheon, South Korea and at the Cantir Museum in Argentona in Spain.
And now, thanks to the collaboration between Esperienza and the SooVac Gallery in Minneapolis, one can see the transformative work she created in the USA. The idea belongs to Lyndel King, a former director of the Weisman Museum, a mentor to so many and friend of our small non-profit organization. IDuring an art tour in Romagna in 2022, we introduced Fiorenza to Lyndel, and gradually the idea came to a deeply meaningful conclusion.
The installation project that Fiorenza has designed and created for the city of Minneapolis speaks of a single universal theme: fear. It is an intensely participatory art, based on real interaction with the community. ” What color is your fear?” she has asked 45 participants in the project in individual interviews. Next, she translated the answers into drawings and ultimately into hand-modeled bowls and plates. During the exhibit the "collective fears" are confronted by rays of light, to show the possibility of going from dark to light, and vice versa.
Thank you Fiorenza for your bravery and for helping us transcend the darkness…together we can!
*Faenza is the true world capital of ceramics. There is no other city with such a total focus on ceramics beginning with the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza (MIC), perhaps the most important ceramic art museum in the world that has been designated a “testament to a Culture of Peace” by UNESCO. The result is that both artists and artisans flock from everywhere to breathe the refined air of the place. In the spirit if sharing such a treasure Esperienza has created art tours to visit Faenza and the extraordinary biannual festival Argilla.