In Nauman’s Labyrinths. A Walk through the Exhibition with Stefano Bartezzaghi

The Public Program devoted to Bruce Nauman‘s Neons Corridors Rooms exhibition opens on Thursday 10 November 2022 with a walk entitled Nei labirinti di Nauman (“In Nauman’s Labyrinths”), in the company of the semiologist and writer Stefano Bartezzaghi, professor in the Department of Arts and Tourism at IULM University.

“Dotted around the vast space of the Navate,” writes Bartezzaghi, “we find not so much objects to look at, as spaces to go through, words that are amplified or luminous in the spaces, mirrors to reflect on, and monitors that hint at things that are elsewhere. The intention of the works is never to answer the question “what does it mean?,” but rather to encourage us to question where we will be taken. What is at play here—in other words, the stakes in the game we are invited to play—are intermittences, asymmetries, and disorientation. Just as Nauman teaches us.”

The public can listen to the conference through headphones, while moving freely around the exhibition space.

The event is held in direct relation with the works on display, in order to understand the aspects of Nauman’s practice that most closely involve the use of language: from the search for word games to short circuits of meaning, to the relationship between title and work and between written sign and spoken word, offering visitors a range of interpretations and insights.

Stefano Bartezzaghi (b. 1962, Milan) is a professor in the Department of Arts and Tourism at IULM University, where he teaches Semiotics of Creativity. He contributes to La Repubblica with articles on culture, games, and language as well as with a daily crossword puzzle. He curates the Campo aperto semiotics library and the Amletica leggera humour library for the Bompiani publishing house. His most recent books are Mettere al mondo il mondo. Tutto quanto facciamo per essere detti creativi e perché (Bringing the world into the world. Everything we do to be known as creative and why. Bompiani, 2021) and Senza distinzione. Di sesso, di razza, di lingua (Without distinction. Of sex, of race, of language. People, 2022).

Free admission with online reservation. 

The Public Program | Bruce Nauman continues in the coming months with the following events:

• Thursday 1 December 2022, 7 PM: A Walk through the Exhibition with Teresa Macrì
  Teresa Macrì is an art critic and writer, specialized in visual culture. She teaches Phenomenology of Contemporary Arts at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome and is a contributor to the newspaper Il Manifesto.