A Bowl of Dust is based on a multi-local field research across Europe, carried out by Leone Contini over the last years to investigate the artificial sites created after WW2 with the rubble of the bombarded cities. This research follows the artist’s investigation on soil and ground as both a political territory and lively archive, where moments of erasure, decay, alteration and recreation are continuously reiterated.

Consisting of installation, video, drawing and an opening performance, the exhibition challenges the image of Europe and its ruins as an expression of a romantic longing permeated by the idea of new beginnings. The installation retraces both the process of permanent change and repetition by addressing them through historical narratives and events and displaying a post-disaster biosphere that is inhabited by living organisms and a variety of non-human witnesses.

Leone Contini (b. 1976 in Florence/Italy) studied philosophy and cultural anthropology at the University of Siena. He has held events at the Kunstverein in Amsterdam (2013, 2019), the Delfina Foundation, London (2014, 2015 and 2017), and the Kunstraum in Munich (2014), among others. Selected exhibitions include The Planetary Garden, Manifesta 12, Palermo (2018); The Scattered Colonial Body, Museo della Civiltà, Rom (2017)