The exhibitions to see in December in Italy

Why not use a few hours of the Christmas holidays to take a break from nagging relatives and visit an exhibition? And if the exhibition is in a different city to the one we're in, it could be an opportunity for a little trip out of town. The possibilities are as varied as our preferences. There are the impressions, the great photographers, the up-and-coming artists, the sculptors and the protagonists of Pop Art. From Milan to Naples, between installations, antique paintings, giant sculptures and surreal images, all you have to do is point your finger at the map and lose yourself in art.

To help you lose yourself in the many interesting projects, G-Club has selected the must-see exhibitions in Italy in December.

"Motherboy" - Milan

The Gio Marconi Gallery in Milan presents a group exhibition born from the dialogue between curator Stella Bottai and artist Grey Wielebinski on the concept of "Motherboy". The concept draws on queer, feminist and psychoanalytical theories to explore the relationship between mothers and children through painting, collage, sculpture, video and installation. Some names of the artists involved? Leigh Ledare, Bracha L. Ettinger, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Patrizio di Massimo. The leitmotifs of the visual and exhibition path include themes such as sacrifice, co-dependency, desire, identity, denial, hierarchies, possessiveness and betrayal, but also postures and attitudes that reveal interpersonal hierarchies and emotional language.

Title: Motherboy

When: until 17 February 2024

Where: Gió Marconi Gallery, Milan

''Carlo Zauli'' - Milan

Nina Yashar, in collaboration with the Carlo Zauli Museum, has curated a selection of works covering the most representative sculptural periods of the career of the artist, who is one of the great innovators and masters of 20th century ceramic art. The central space of the Nilufar Depot in Viale Lancetti 34 will host numerous works, including particularly rare pieces from Zauli's private collection, covering the period from his beginnings in the 1950s to the 1980s. A particular focus is on pieces from the 1960s, when Zauli turned away from the majolica tradition in Faenza and turned to artistic sculpture.

Title: Carlo Zauli

When: until 25 February 2024

Where: Nilufar Depot, Milan

"Fantasmagoria Callas" - Milan

Maria Callas sang for the last time on 31 May 1958 at La Scala in Milan. In 2023, she'll return to this special venue for an exhibition entitled Fantasmagoria Callas, celebrating the 100th anniversary of her death. The exhibition route is divided into five stages, each of which will be interpreted by just as many protagonists from the contemporary art scene: Fashion designer Giorgio Armani, musician and composer Alvin Curran, contemporary artists Latifa Echakhch and Francesco Vezzoli and director Mario Martone. While we wait for the film by Pablo Larraín, in which Angelina Jolie will play the iconic singer, this is an opportunity for fans to relive her legend and for those who don't know her to learn more about a figure who made the history of opera music (and beyond).

Title: Fantasmagoria Callas

When: until 30 April 2024

Where: Teatro alla Scala, Milan

"Presepe" - Naples

Chiara Dynys reflects on Naples, the city and its tradition, which constantly hovers between the sacred and the profane, truth and fiction, using one of its symbols: the nativity scene. At the Casamadre Gallery in the historic Palazzo Partanna, works inspired by the imperfection and metaphorical dissolution of traditional icons and devotional figures can be admired until 5 January 2024. The result is an anomalous nativity scene with exuberant colours and eye-catching shapes that stand out against the optically white walls of the gallery, along with diamonds made of echoey aluminium that resemble comets and constellations, taken from the series An Eternal Brilliant Garland, created by Dynys in 2022.

Title: Presepe

When: until 5 January 2024

Where: Casamadre Gallery, Naples

"La camera Positano di Ico Parisi" - Bologna

Garage Bentivoglio is a new exhibition space in Via del Borgo di San Pietro in Bologna, designed and curated by Davide Trabucco as a showcase. From time to time, a unique piece is presented as if it were displayed in a shop window and could therefore be used directly from the street. From 13 December to 20 January, the star will be the Positano room, designed by Ico Parisi and his wife Luisa Aiani and produced by MIM (Mobili Italiani Moderni) in 1958. A curiosity: the piece became part of the Palazzo Bentivoglio collection after it was purchased at the Piazza Grande market in Bologna.

Title: La camera Positano di Ico Parisi

When: 13 December to 20 January

Where: Garage Bentivoglio, Bologna

"Esther Stocker. A mental scenario" - Padua

The experience of constructivism, Op Art and the psychology of perception are just some of the references that can be found in Esther Stocker's works. If you find these allusions interesting, you can explore them in the sculptures, large canvases with a black background and installations by the Italian-Austrian artist in the exhibition dedicated to Stocker at the Fondazione Alberto Peruzzo, which runs until March 2024.

Title: Esther Stocker. A mental scenario

When: until 3 March 2024

Where: Fondazione Alberto Peruzzo, Padua

"Visual Persuasion" - Turin

The Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin is dedicating an entire exhibition to Paulina Olowska and her exploration of the dynamics of desire and eroticism from a female perspective until 3 March 2024. In her diverse and multifaceted works, the woman becomes an active, desiring, lust- and excitement-seeking subject who can embody various roles and characteristics: from the beguiling icon to the mischievous nymph, from the perverse dominatrix to the demonic ghost, from the casual philistine to the self-confident sex worker. A curiosity: the title of the exhibition, Visual Persuasion, is inspired by a book written in the USA in 1961 by the publicist Stephen Baker. He combined media theories and techniques with images and texts to analyse how visual communication influences our subconscious.

Title: Visual Persuasion

When: until 3 March 2024

Where: Sandretto Foundation, Turin

"Concetto Pozzati XXL" - Bologna

The exhibition rooms of Palazzo Fava are home to 50 works by Concetto Pozzati, the great Venetian artist who was transplanted to Bologna and revolutionised Italian Pop Art in the 20th century. The exhibition, on display until 11 February 2024, includes paintings, three-dimensional works and works on paper and traces the most important stages of his career: from the informal climate of the late 1950s to the iconic works of the mid-1960s, which date back to the "Pop" period, the experimental production of the 1970s, the painting of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, up to the last series, Vulvare, from 2016.

Title: Concetto Pozzati XXL

When: until 11 February 2024

Where: Palazzo Fava, Bologna

"From Monet to Matisse. French Modernism, 1850-1950" - Padua

One of the most fascinating centuries in art history, in which artists turned away from the academic art tradition and focused on themes of everyday life, and France as the artistic centre of international modernism come to life at Palazzo Zabarella in Padua. The occasion? An exhibition that brings together 59 works from the Brooklyn Museum's collection, including paintings by the Impressionists Monet, Renoir, Cézanne and Degas as well as their predecessors such as Millet and Boudin and the protagonists of the next generation such as Matisse, Bonnard and Chagall.

Title: From Monet to Matisse. French Modernism, 1850-1950

When: until 12 May 2024

Where: Palazzo Zabarella, Padua

"Sandy Skoglund. The imaginary world of photography. 1970-2023" - Senigallia 

Just walk into the halls of the Palazzo del Duca in Senigallia and follow the entire career of Sandy Skoglund, from her beginnings in the 1970s as a self-taught photographer, through the first great public and critical successes of the 1980s with works such as Radioactive cats and Revenge of the goldfish, to the famous works of the 1990s such as Atomic Love. The collective exhibition is the perfect opportunity to fall in love with her photographs and see how the American artist uses the photographic medium to depict environmental installations made of everyday objects that bring truly imaginative and visionary scenarios to life.

Title: Sandy Skoglund. The imaginary world of photography. 1970-2023

When: until 2 June 2024

Where: Palazzo del Duca, Senigallia