Snapshot II: Circus Visions, Futurist Visions - Art City 2025 Casalecchio di Reno

From Friday, February 7 to Sunday, February 9, 2025, Casalecchio di Reno will host Istantanea II: Circus Visions, Futuristic Visions, a multidisciplinary event as part of the 13th edition of Art City Bologna.

In collaboration with Pro Loco Casalecchio Insieme, Collettivo Artistico Ultimi Futuristi, Cineteca di Bologna (Cinema Modernissimo), Arterego, Libreria Naturalistica, Libreria Docet, Tiberio Artioli Private Archive, Gian Paolo Borghi.
The events, spread across the territory, will be characterized by interdisciplinarity and will focus on the circus as a performing art and Futurist aesthetics, presenting a study on two key figures, experts in both fields: Alessandro Cervellati (artist, teacher) and Mario Verdone (professor, researcher, collector, creator of the first chair in cinematography in Italy). Artists involved in circus performances and cultural operators, such as historians of artistic movements, anthropologists, collectors, and bookstores, will also participate.
Several local businesses will also actively participate.

Friday, February 7, 2025
5:30 PM - Piazzale Casa della Conoscenza (via Porrettana, 360 - Casalecchio di Reno)
Arterego Performance
Circus Show

Friday, February 7, 2025
6:00 PM - Piazza delle Culture, Casa della Conoscenza (via Porrettana, 360 - Casalecchio di Reno)
The Wonderful Adventure of Antonio Franconi
Roundtable dedicated to the history of the circus.
Speakers:
Luca Verdone, director, documentary filmmaker
Gian Paolo Borghi, ethnographic researcher
Tiberio Artioli, cultural operator expert in circus
Piero Piani, antiquarian bookseller and scholar
Pietro Morea, artist from the Arterego association
Moderator: Enrico Bittoto, Collettivo Artistico Ultimi Futuristi.
The roundtable aims to deepen the figure of Alessandro Cervellati and his contribution to the historiography and knowledge of the evolution of circus art, in relation to the studies of Mario Verdone, with whom he had an extensive correspondence.
Followed by the screening of the film The Wonderful Adventure of Antonio Franconi, directed by Luca Verdone (2011).
The film, written and directed by Luca Verdone with the collaboration of Massimo Biliorsi and starring Massimo Ranieri and Orso Maria Guerrini, begins with the dream of a child who, before going to bed, discovers an old chest in the attic containing toys. A circus, lead cavalrymen, and a book on the life of the legendary circus impresario Antonio Franconi, who lived between the 1700s and 1800s. The film portrays the feats of this mythical figure who sought to create an innovative show that would unite and surpass all forms of representation known at the time.
Free admission

From February 7 to 9, 2025
Spazio La Virgola, Casa della Conoscenza (via Porrettana, 360 - Casalecchio di Reno)
The Magic of the Circle: Alessandro Cervellati and the Art of the Circus
A visual and narrative journey into the circus universe of a great master
Curated by Gian Paolo Borghi, Tiberio Artioli, Alessandro Menzani, Enrico Bittoto
Exhibition dedicated to the publications and illustrations of Alessandro Cervellati on Circus and Futurism from private archives.
More than fifty years after the death of Alessandro Cervellati (1892-1974), this exhibition recalls the work of one of the most prolific artists, writers, and historians from Bologna, a painter, graphic artist, illustrator, circus historian, theater and performance scholar, known for his multifaceted activity as a witness to Bologna's cultural life. He participated in the Futurist movement, contributing with drawings and satirical articles. He stood out for his work as a teacher at the Aldini schools, then as an illustrator of children's books, and as an artist. In his later years, he dedicated his energy to collecting and systematizing the history of Bolognese folklore and tradition.
Opening hours:
Friday, February 7, 2025 - 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Saturday, February 8, 2025 - 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Sunday, February 9, 2025 - 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Free admission

From Monday, February 3 to Sunday, February 9, 2025
Commercial businesses in the town center
Preview The Magic of the Circle: Alessandro Cervellati and the Art of the Circus
Exhibition spread across Dolce Lucia, Carina, Tramvia, and Capricci del Palato.
Free admission

Saturday, February 8, 2025
11:00 AM - La Dolce Lucia Arisbar (via Marconi, 80 - Casalecchio di Reno)
Interview with director Luca Verdone
Curated by Gabriele Mignardi (Il Resto del Carlino)
The interview will focus on circus art and the Marinettian Movement, both cornerstones of Mario Verdone's studies, a film critic and passionate scholar of the circus world and Futurism. Luca Verdone will discuss how these two aspects of his father’s life influenced his more mature works and documentaries.
Son of film critic Mario Verdone and brother of the famous actor and director Carlo Verdone and producer Silvia Verdone, Luca Verdone has been a director of documentaries and TV programs since '73. Since 1977, he has staged some operatic productions for important opera seasons, and from 1986 he has also directed feature films such as Anthology of Neorealism (1980), 7 Kilos in 7 Days (1986), Italian Comedy (1988), The Pleasure of Pleasing (2002). In 2006, he directed The Wonderful Adventure of Antonio Franconi, released in 2011. In 2024, he directed the documentary about his father Mario, the renowned intellectual, film critic, and Italian essayist titled Mario Verdone: The Traveling Critic. He is also the artistic consultant for the Museo Alberto Sordi Foundation.
Free admission

Saturday, February 8, 2025
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM - Cinema Modernissimo (Piazza Re Enzo, 3 - Bologna)
Mario Verdone: The Traveling Critic
Screening of the film directed by Luca Verdone (75', Italy 2024)
This work blends the love for the circus world with passions for cinema and Futurism. The director presents a sentimental and documentary journey about his father Mario. Mario Verdone, Italy's first cinema professor, filmmaker, poet, selector for the Venice Film Festival, critic, teacher at the Centro Sperimentale, and great expert in avant-garde cinema, Futurism, and circus. A multi-voiced story, from Elio Pecora to Ferrarotti, to director Luchetti and the Verdone family, rediscovering a key figure in criticism and reconstructing the portrait of a generation that helped rebuild Italy after the tragedy of the war and the fascist era.
Final roundtable "Meeting with the Author" and Q&A session with the audience.
With Luca Verdone
Moderated by Enrico Bittoto and Cineteca di Bologna.
Admission € 4.50

The event will be accompanied by:

Cinetica, Instant of Art and Design
Spontaneous, concise exhibition on Futurism promoted by contemporary artists.
Curated by Enrico Bittoto, with participation from Matteo Alfonsi (architect based in London, expert in fashion and avant-garde), Naby (graduate of the Bologna Academy, recently concluded the 60th Venice Art Biennale 2024), Gabriele Fagnani (architect, musician, and sound artist).
The exhibition takes place in the "reduced" space of the Modernissimo, where in 1922 the first real structured Futurist exhibition in Bologna was held, curated by Tato and F. T. Marinetti, and in 1925 (exactly 100 years ago) was the personal exhibition of Bologna Futurist Angelo Caviglioni.

Aerodance performance to Futurist music by maestro Balilla Pratella, curated by Controcorrente, the dance troupe based at Polisportiva Masi in Casalecchio di Reno.