Just before I dive into all things Venice, on view from March through mid-June, San Carlo in Cremona is presenting a large site-specific installation by Guglielmo Castelli. The immersive presentation spotlights drawing as the core of the artist’s practice while fully engaging the viewer in piecing it together into a narrative. Further on, the presentation was activated on an opening day w the performance directed by Fabio Cherstich.

It is not easy to write about an exhibition whose text suggests that “space is not conceived as a simple frame, but as a condition that is defined by what moves through,” without actually experiencing it in person. So, everything Im saying here is an assumption based on the photos and my previous encounters with Castelli's work. What’s clear at first sight is that the installation’s experience and appeal are in constant flux as the viewer explores it. With large banners rising from the floor to the church’s ceiling, the dynamics of perspective and scale keep shifting, quite literally absorbing the viewer. With large figures towering over, arranged in a collage-like style within cloud-like forms, the entire setting feels as theatrical and as uncertain as Castelli’s suspended and fragmented paintings.

This particular quality seems to be very important in general, as his work frequently features a fluid change of the permanently unsettled scene. With the backgrounds regularly flowing, shifting planes, and subjects often caught in mid-action and rarely grounded, there is always a sense of emotional and narrative limbo. Thinking of the times I’ve seen his paintings in person, I remember moving around them as I pieced the puzzle together. Their dynamics between the pictorial and chromatic elements impose precariousness that, in a way, makes the narrative feel theatrical or performative. And in this case, such a quality is not only blown up in proportion but also intensified by the way the banners are displayed, literally taking the viewer in as they explore all of its “scenes.” —Saša Bogojev

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Courtesy the artists, San Carlo Cremona, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo | Brussels | New York | Paris, and Sylvia Kouvali, London | Piraeus
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Courtesy the artists, San Carlo Cremona, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo | Brussels | New York | Paris, and Sylvia Kouvali, London | Piraeus
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Courtesy the artists, San Carlo Cremona, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo | Brussels | New York | Paris, and Sylvia Kouvali, London | Piraeus
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Courtesy the artists, San Carlo Cremona, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo | Brussels | New York | Paris, and Sylvia Kouvali, London | Piraeus
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Courtesy the artists, San Carlo Cremona, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo | Brussels | New York | Paris, and Sylvia Kouvali, London | Piraeus

On view at San Carlo Cremona until June 12th, 2026

All images: Guglielmo Castelli and Fabio Cherstich
Sospeso nel moto con addebito di vuoto, 2026
Printed canvas

Performance by Accademia Stauffer and ITER Research Ensemble, directed by Fabio Cherstich

Courtesy the artists, San Carlo Cremona, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo | Brussels | New York | Paris, and Sylvia Kouvali, London | Piraeus

Ph Form Group - Andrea Rossetti

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