Violenti confini is an exhibition project conceived and curated by Magonza editore, which brings together the works of twenty-one contemporary Italian and foreign artists.

The exhibition aims to investigate the theme of borders and their representation in different fields, from the geographical to the social one, from the political to the biographical one. Interpreting the concept of territory and limit, the exhibition also looks carefully at current events, from issues relating to the redefinition of old and new frontiers to the phenomena of migratory flows. In addition to the border understood as “trauma”, as “fracture”, the exhibition also proposes an imaginative and lyrical articulation of the theme, thus creating an open itinerary capable of conveying both the tension and the artistic, evocative and creative potential that has always accompanied the reflection on the concepts of border and limit.

Twenty-one works by as many artists – from different generations, with different poetics and stylistic researches – interpret and explore the idea of the border from a series of transversal points of view. The works on display – installations, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, videos – have mostly been created in recent decades and include a project conceived specifically for the occasion. Along with these, Violenti confini also presents documents that date to past centuries. The exhibition itinerary, in fact, starts from some historical maps part of the collection of the Città di Castello museum, which enhance the heritage of the Umbrian territory and testify to how the interest in this subject intersected different eras.
Following the principle of synchronicity, these documents, which open the exhibition, create an ideal bridge with the works of contemporary art in the spaces dedicated to temporary exhibitions in the splendid Municipal Gallery. The exhibition is divided into five rooms, each of which presents a variation on the theme.
The relationship between past and present is the main theme around which the entire exhibition revolves. It is well expressed in the initial room, where ancient maps dialogue with Marco Baldicchi’s site-specific intervention. The border, understood as “trauma”, is the subject of the works by Alighiero Boetti, Mircea Cantor, Dina Danish, Margherita Moscardini and Pietro Ruffo, in the second room. The itinerary continues with Filippo Berta, Nicolò Degiorgis, Mona Hatoum and Jon Rafman, whose works address the theme of the border as a social and relational issue, with a strong attention to human presence. The works by Christo, Paolo Icaro, Jiří Kolář, Sandro Martini, Claudio Parmiggiani and Giuseppe Spagnulo, placed in the fourth room, focus instead on the immaterial border as a threshold to be crossed. The last room is dedicated to a biographical reading of the border, with works by Flavio Favelli, Mario Giacomelli, Adrian Paci, Dim Sampaio and Luca Vitone.
Violenti confini thus constitutes an open field of comparison on crucial issues of the present, mapping places, origins and approaches, also capable of defining a geography of contemporary art in recent decades.

The exhibition catalogue is published by Magonza editore, with critical contributions of Pietro Bellasi, Alberto Fiz and Saverio Verini, a section dedicated to the works and artists, and an iconographic apparatus of the works on display.
The exhibition venue
The Municipal Gallery of Città di Castello is housed in a Renaissance palace built between 1521 and 1532 and completed in 1545, once the home of Alessandro Vitelli and Angela de’ Rossi. It houses the main art collection of the Umbria region together with the National Gallery of Perugia. Inside important examples of Renaissance and Mannerist painting are displayed, including some of the very first works by Raphael and Signorelli. The main facade of the palace, which opens onto the Italian garden, is decorated with marvellous graffiti by Cristoforo Gherardi and helpers, based on the design of Giorgio Vasari. The Gallery has hosted important exhibitions and the restoration of the east wing of the building, which took place in 2005, has allowed to open up to contemporary art, with solo and collective exhibitions of both historical and new generation artists. Among the exhibitions: Prima di Burri e con Burri (2005), Josef Albers. Arte come esperienza: i metodi di insegnamento di un maestro del Bauhaus (2013), Segno Forma Gesto (2014), Carlo Zauli. I bianchi (2015) e Governare il caso. L’opera nel suo farsi dagli anni sessanta ai nostri giorni (2015-16).