Rivera – Casa Patriziale
Via alle Scuole 48

from 18.10.2024 to 03.11.2024
from Wednesday to Sunday
from 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm

Vernissage:
Friday 18 October from 5pm
Presents: Monica Rusconi, director of the Stabio museum

Wednesday 23 October at 6.00pm:
chat to discover weaving and cyanotype

Speech for the inauguration of Giovanni Filippini’s exhibition dedicated to weaving and cyanotype – Rivera, October 18, 2024

I have the burden, but I believe above all the honor, of saying a few things to you, which I hope will be sensible and not too banal, to introduce you to the exhibition in there, of course! But most importantly, to introduce you to the silent, complex, slow, yet also frantic world of Giovanni, who works with weaving and, not long ago, but with undeniable talent, began working with cyanotype.

When one decides to put on an exhibition, and is not running a museum, it is prepared for many, many months with the intent to share beauty—the beauty of one’s own small but grand world. It’s a bit like wanting to unveil a secret too beautiful and full of love to not be told.

What Giò gifts us tonight are, naturally, countless hours spent at the loom weaving, but more than that, he gifts us his enviable curiosity, his constant desire to learn, his perseverance, his love for the past but also for the future, his ability to weave relationships, his enthusiasm for those small, almost insignificant things that give flavor, depth, and meaning to life. In short, he gifts us his world, with that humility, generosity, passion, and enthusiasm typical of Giò—so rare and so beautiful.

Tonight, it’s not just us here, ready to step into that exhibition and into that world. There are many hands and much knowledge, some of which have been passed down through the centuries, like small lessons in life. There are also the hands of those who cannot be here to see that hand-spun thread transformed into fabric and cyanotype, spun who knows with what thoughts in their hearts, in front of the fireplace 100 years ago.

There are the eyes and heart of Lucia, who deeply understood Giò and was able, with her camera, to create those delicate, incredible, and powerful contrasts of shadows and enhance that marvelous tool we all carry around and rarely look at or appreciate enough: our hands.

In this exhibition, there is also a behind-the-scenes story, which we tried to tell by producing a video to help even those who know as much about weaving as I know about mathematical functions to understand.

To conclude, I believe we all owe Giò an immense thank you for bringing us together here, curious beforehand and, I believe, already grateful for the marvel that the small masterpiece he has given us will offer.

There’s all of Giovanni in that room. His heart, his soul, his entire being vibrates in each of those pieces, and frankly, I believe there is no greater or more generous gift.
So, simply but with all my heart, thank you, Giò!

Monica Rusconi