Gennarieollo (part II) is curated by Daniele Balice with Farah Al Qasimi, Henni Alftan, Alex Ayed, Jonathan Binet, Camille Blatrix, Dennis Cooper, Isabelle Cornaro, Enzo Cucchi, Simone Fattal, Owen Fu, Mario Giacomelli, Rafik Greiss, Thomas Jeppe, Kayode Ojo, Honyan Ren, Jackson Shelby, Shabahang Tayyari

“Gennariello” is a series of letters Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote for publication in the newspaper Corriere della Sera between March and October 1975, shortly before his murder that November. The letters are addressed to an imaginary student named Gennariello, a young boy from Naples. Writing as a teacher to his pupil, Pasolini employed this metaphoric stratagem to develop his analysis of various themes, including semiology, politics, aesthetics and sexuality.

The inspiration for this group show at Balice Hertling is the work of Pasolini, particularly the topics raised in “Gennariello”: the pedagogical influence of objects (“the discourse of things”) and their linguistic power, intellectuals’ cynical acceptation of history, the conformism of modern society, and the irreversible damages provoked by progress.