ROME.- Mimema (mīmēma from the ancient Greek 'imitated thing') reflects on the concept of imitation, without distinguishing between its effects in the biological world or between cultural and costume phenomena, but by relating the different aspects of its manifestations. Mimema embraces the desire for a flowering. The same desire inherent in a propitiatory dance for the germination of spring, at a time when apple trees blossom four times in a year, but our spirits do not see equinoxes.
Much has been written about ornamentation, how it offers the possibility of animating inanimate objects, making them performing and radiating a field of attraction, as well as activating their apotropaic power.
In fact, the attraction held by a succulent flower is no different from the one manifested by bodies adorned with jewels, which reveal our desires and fears. According to the Doctrine of Signatures, for example, each natural element unveils itself in a different way, emanating, through similarities of form, therapeutic qualities for the human body. Thus weaving a relationship of affinity and symbiosis between culture and nature, whose purpose is not so much to counterfeit as to reveal.
Jacopo Belloni’s research revolves around the narrative and symbolic structures that human beings elaborate to face moments of crisis and chaos. Drawing on studies of anthropology, history of religions and vernacular culture, he creates relationships between archaic myths and new superstitions, investigating phenomena in which the boundaries between man-made signs and supernatural things blur.
Through sculpture, installation and performance, Belloni investigates how our increasingly complex and nebulous reality is perceived as a folk tale, in which the familiar becomes unsettling, while fear and desire influence our perception. His works constitute devices that, when worn or activated, confuse the boundary between the magical and the rational: like a minstrel-narrator, he induces the viewer to reflect on the present misalignments, ironically looking at the shadows of our contemporaneity.
Jacopo Belloni (Ancona, IT, 1992) lives and works between Geneva, CH and Rome, IT.
He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, Milan (2014) and from the University of Milan (2018) and holds an MFA from the Work. Master at HEAD, Geneva (2021).
Recent and upcoming solo exhibitions include: 2023 - ADA, Rome, IT (upcoming). 2022 - Galleria Daniele Agostini, Lugano, CH. 2021 - Head sponsorship Award, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, CH.
Recent and upcoming group exhibitions include: 2023 - Centre d’Art Contemporain de la Ferme du Buisson, Marne-la- Vallée, FR. 2022 - Kunsthalle, Bern, CH; Bourses Déliées Arts Visules, Halle Nord, Geneva, CH; Forde, Geneva, CH; La Rada, Locarno, CH. 2021 - Istituto Svizzero, Rome, IT; Palazzo Re Rebaudengo, Guarene, IT; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, CH. 2020 - Sonnenstube, Lugano, CH; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, CH. 2019 - Gessnerallee, Zurich, CH; Conz Archive, Berlin, DE. 2018 - LCMF London Contemporary Music Festival, Ambika P3, London, UK; Marsèlleria, Milan, IT. 2017 - Localedue, Bologna, IT; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR.
He has participated in residencies and studio programs such as CASTRO Project, Rome (2021), Boghossian Foundation, Brussels (2019), Bocs Art, Cosenza (2019), Fixer, Lecce (2016) and Dena Foundation, Paris (2016).
In 2021 he was shortlisted for the second round of the Swiss Art Awards, Kiefer/Hablitzel Prize section and selected for the Biennale College Arte, Venice Art Biennale. In 2023 he has been selected the Swiss Art Awards and awarded a fellowship at the Swiss Institute of Rome for 2023/24.
