BOLOGNA.- On the occasion of ART CITY Bologna 2026 and in conjunction with Arte Fiera, the Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna presents Resto, a video installation by the artist duo MASBEDO, at the Oratorio di San Filippo Neri. The exhibition is accompanied by a critical essay by Alessandro Rabottini.

Standing in the centre of the nave of the Oratorio di San Filippo Neri, MASBEDO’s video installation activates a field of resonance in which the present and memory merge into a shared grammar. Resto connects historical memory and the contemporary moment, intertwining with the history of the Oratorio itself, which was severely damaged during the bombings of 1944.

By placing in dialogue the wounds of war still visible in the architecture and those that mark our own time, the installation establishes a direct relationship with the space, amplifying its original vocation as a place for listening, care, and welcome. The title Resto (“I remain”) is the name of the boat used to make the video (2021, 9’33”), and at the same time, a verb that assumes ethical and political significance: to stay, to hold on, not to look away.

The work originates from an action carried out in the Sicilian Sea—the junction between the eastern and western Mediterranean—where the artists filmed a dredger with a large LED screen mounted on its bow. On the display appear images of an organ and an organist performing Andante (late 18th century) by Giovanni Andrea Fioroni, recorded in the Chiesa della Passione and the Chiesa Rossa in Milan.

The music symbolically crosses the Mediterranean, carrying a “prayer,” as the artists describe it, into an open and ambivalent space: the sea — “free, impetuous, foreign to us all” — capable of both welcoming and repelling those who attempt the crossing. The sound of the organ alternates with the gentle lapping of the water and the hum of the boat’s engine. Usually employed for excavation and removal, the dredger here becomes a device for listening and contemplation, one that holds together what might otherwise disperse and invites shared emotional participation.

The work creates additional connections with the Oratorio. Opened in the early 18th century with devotional musical compositions known as oratorios — sung prayers meant to bridge earth and heaven — the Oratorio finds a historical and symbolic resonance in the performance of a musical score from its own era. Visitors will also notice an empty niche in the right choir loft, where one of the two organs destroyed in the 1944 bombing once stood. While one instrument was reconstructed in 2002, the missing one is virtually restored through image and sound.

Behind the installation, Francesco Monti’s altarpiece reinforces the almost liturgical dimension of the experience. Resto thus becomes a meditation on violence — both the kind that falls from above and that which manifests as neglect or abandonment — connecting the collapses of the past with the humanitarian emergencies of the present and linking historical memory to contemporary responsibility.

MASBEDO is an artist duo composed of Nicolò Massazza (born 1973, Italy) and Iacopo Bedogni (born 1970, Italy). They have worked together since 1999 and currently live between Milan and Piacenza (Italy). Their practice brings together diverse artistic languages including video, installation, cinema, performance, theatre, and sound design. Their work explores emotional and intense narratives that delve into the depth of human relationships and the complex subjectivity of the contemporary individual.

They have identified the intersection between cinema and art as their privileged field of investigation, approached with attention to both socio-anthropological aspects and poetic intimacy. Their works have been presented in major museums, biennials, and festivals worldwide, including Manifesta 15 Barcelona, Museo del Novecento Milan, Centre Pompidou-Metz, CCCB Barcelona, Fondazione ICA Milano, Fondazione Merz, Leopold Museum Vienna, MAXXI Rome, and Centre Pompidou / Forum des Images Paris, as well as La Biennale di Venezia.

Their films have been screened at the Venice International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, European Film Festival Seville, CPH:DOX, FIFA Montréal, Villa Medici Film Festival (Rome), Sharjah Film Platform, and the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).