On 19 May, 2021, FAI – Fondo Ambiente Italiano (the National Trust for Italy) is inaugurating a new exhibition, Sudden Time by Chiara Dynys and Sean Shanahan, which marks the relaunching of the activities of Villa Panza after five months of closure due to the pandemic, and just a few days after the long-awaited reopening of the property to the public.
The exhibition features a number of works – some specifically conceived for these spaces – that encapsulate the artistic research of the two artists, who were well-known and highly appreciated by the collector Giuseppe Panza; indeed, some of their output was already included in his historic collection. The selection of works and their arrangement demonstrate a clear affinity with the collector’s own research, as reflected in the permanent collection of Villa Panza, with which they enter into a dialogue, as they also do with the architecture and the landscape, revealing new, diverse perspectives on the themes of light and colour, and their associated dynamics in the experience of individual perception.
The title draws its inspiration from a symphony written in 1993 by the English composer George Benjamin, which in turn was inspired by a line by the poet Wallace Stevens: “It was like sudden time in a world without time”. The “sudden time” perceived by the two artists is the illumination, the revelation that accompanies their intuition, as it does for every artist.
The exhibition features a total of eight large installations by Chiara Dynys and Sean Shanahan, dating from 2018 to 2021, displayed here for the first time. They will be installed in the villa’s outbuildings on the ground floor- Sean Shanahan in the large stable block, Chiara Dynys in the small stable block. In the garden a large sculpture by Chiara Dynys is installed. The first floor will also house three historic works by Sean Shanahan from the Panza Collection, generously made available by the Panza family.