THE MIRROR PROJECT IN COLLABORATION WITH THE ATLAS (OF CREATIVE MECHANISMS): [CURATING–CONDUCTING] IN AGRIGENTO

The Mirror project, under the coverage of Agrigento Capitale Italiana della Cultura 2025, realised in collaboration with The Atlas (of Creative Mechanisms): [Curating–Conducting]. From both a conceptual and structural perspective, the project adopts an experimental framework, reimagining the traditional space of an opera house through the lens of contemporary art. Works (based on moving image), which either process or incorporate musical components, sound, rhythm, and performative structures, are presented in the format of screenings in lieu of an opera, ballet, or concert. Simultaneously, photographs are exhibited on the stage itself, utilising the theatre’s mechanical systems in the form of an exhibition.

By inviting the audience to step onto the stage and experience it as an exhibition space, The Mirror challenges conventional modes of spectatorship and transforms the performative setting into an immersive visual and spatial encounter. This recontextualisation of the operatic environment opens up new perceptual and conceptual possibilities to reflect on the shifting boundaries between artistic disciplines.

These spatial, perceptual, and sensory interventions will be further explored through a critical and reflexive exchange between the curators and documented in the forthcoming Atlas publication.

 

The “Mirror” project consists of three interconnected chapters. The first chapter is the experimental exhibition held on the stage of Teatro Pirandello in Agrigento. It combines a film screening with photographs, inviting the audience to step onto the stage to experience the photographs in a unique exhibition setup and watch the films as opera audiences. The second chapter is a book that mirrors art and the city of Agrigento. It processes observations through the eyes of a stray cat hovering around the city. The third chapter entails the dissemination of the film programme and the book to partner institutions in different cities across Europe: Istanbul Modern (Istanbul), Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna), Kunsthaus Dahlem (Berlin), Liljevalchs Konsthall (Stockholm), National Museum of Modern Art (Zagreb), The Art Rooms, ARUCAD  (Kyrenia) and CVAR Centre of Visual Arts and Research (Nicosia); Cyprus, The Reykjanes Art Museum (Reykjavik).

The participating artists of the project are Ali Cherri (LB/FR), Almagul Menlibeyeva (KZ/DE), Cristiana de Marchi (IT/LB/AE), Egle Oddo (IT/FI), Emilija Škarnulytė ( (LT), Francesco Bellina (IT), Hera Büyüktasciyan (TR), Herrana Addisu (ET), Icelandic Love Corporation (IS), Isa Rosenberger (AT), Jesper Just (DE), Johan Thom (ZA), Larissa Sansour (PS/UK) – Søren Lind (DK/UK), Marcus Neustetter (AT), Marja Helander (FI), The ZoNE (AT), Maria Lantz (SE), Nisrine Boukhari (SY/AT), Oya Silbery (CY), Rojda Tugrul (TR/AT), Ramesch Daha (AT), Superflex (DK), Theresa Traore Dahlberg (SE), Wael Shawky (EG), and William Kentridge (ZA).

Most of the editions of the photographs were produced in Agrigento and donated to the Agrigento City Museum upon the conclusion of the exhibition at Teatro Pirandello, Agrigento.
 

Agrigento, designated as the Italian Capital of Culture for 2025 (Agrigento Capitale Italiana della Cultura 2025), has structured its programme around four thematic elements: Air, Earth, Water, and Fire. The “Mirror” project is presented under the theme of ‘Water’.

The Mediterranean region has always generated and orchestrated a unique understanding of imagination through unexpected associative processes, especially through the theme of water as an overarching motif. The project operates as an analogy to observing a broken mirror with its fragments. In this context, the main curatorial objective of the project is to incorporate the mirroring of various elements to one another: the city of Agrigento, the element of water, films, photographs, music, and the audience creating a strong and unified experience at Teatro Pirandello Agrigento, with a scheduled program spanning a month. This experience will also be captured in a book that reflects and intertwines these elements, narrated through the perspective of a stray cat named ‘Surfaro’.
 

The programme consists of six Acts (screenings), an Interlude (exhibition) and a Prelude (the talk).
 

• “Aqua Maria” (2018) by Icelandic Love Corporation (IS)

• “Birds in the Earth” (2018) by Marja Helander (FI)

• “The Labyrinth of the World Paradise of the Heart” (2022) by Hera Büyüktasciyan (TR)

• “You Whom I Could Not Save” (2023) by William Kentridge (ZA)
 

• “All is Water” (2023) by Superflex (DK)

• “The Dream of a Falling Star” (2019-2023) by Hera Büyüktaşciyan (TR)

• “Cabaret Crusades: The Horror Show file” (2010) by Wael Shawky (EG)

 

• “The Watchman” (2023) by Ali Cherri (LB/FR)

• “The State of Water” (2025) by Nisrine Boukhari (SY/AT)

• “The Ashes” (2019) by Marcus Neustetter (AT)
 

• “Kwassa Kwassa” (2015) by Superflex (DK)

• “The Theory of Displacement (Fragment #1) (2008) by Johan Thom (ZA)

• “A Turtle in Ten Seconds” (2023) by Rojda Tuğrul (TR/AT)

• “The River” by Herrena Adisu (ET)

 

• “Mother Water. You kept silent, yet the knowledge is mine” (2024) by Almagul Menlibeyeva (KZ/DE)

• “Building A Fallen Wall” (2021-2022) by Cristiana de Marchi (IT/LB/AE)

• “Ambassador’s Wife” (2017) by Theresa Traore Dahlberg (SE)

• “The Captain (Vladimir’s Voyage)” (2013) by Isa Rosenberger (AT)
 

• “Æqualia”(2023) by Emilija Škarnulytė (SE)

• “Llano” (2012) by Jesper Just (DK)

• “As If No Misfortune Had Occurred in the Night”, (2022) by Larissa Sansour (PS/UK) – Søren Lind (DK/UK)
 

PRELUDE: The talk on the stage

Branko Franceschi (HR), Dorothea Schoene (DE), Maria Lantz (SE), and Oya Silbery (CY), moderated by Basak Senova (TR/AT) and Jonatan Habib Engqvist (SE).
 

INTERLUDE: The photography exhibition on the stage

• “Water in Sicily” (2025), a series of three acrylic prints (15x32cm) by Egle Oddo (IT/FI)

• “An extract from the Pray for Seamen project” (2022), C-print (86x57cm) by Francesco Bellina (IT)

• “Will you still be mine” (2024), C-print (186x73cm) by Johan Thom (ZA)

• “Extracts from the Cio che ci tie e uniti, ci divide project” (2025), a series of prints (50x36cm) by Maria Lantz (SE)

• “Indigo Pool” (2022) C-print (73,5x50cm) by Larissa Sansour (PS/UK) – Søren Lind (DK/UK)

• “Extracts from the Life-Line project”, blue tile prints (20x30cm) by Ramesch Daha (AT)

• “Expired (water)” (2024-2025) digitalised Hasselblad prints (30x30cm) by Marcus Neustetter (AT)

• “Extracts from the In Lieu of Time project”, a series of Polaroid (7.9×7.9cm) by Oya Silbery (CY)

• “Water Studies Tlön” (2025), a series of photographs (10.2×12.7cm) taken by Alexis O van Tlön in the late 1800s, digitally enhanced by the ZoNE (AT)
 

The Atlas (of Creative Mechanisms): [Curating–Conducting] is a PEEK project led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Basak Senova, with interdisciplinary input from key researcher Dr. David Chisholm, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and hosted by the Institute of Art Sciences and Art Education at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.