From 9 September 2022 to 31 January 2023 in Modena, Gallerie Estensi will present the exhibition Simon Starling. Metarmorfuoco. In the light of Tintoretto, an innovative installation that offers visitors an immersive experience thanks to a single work that connects some of the more topical themes of our times with the museum’s extraordinary artistic heritage.

Curated by Gianfranco Maraniello - Director of the Area Musei d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Milan - the exhibition by Simon Starling (1967), a leading figure on the British and international scene and winner of the prestigious Turner Prize, from the very title, in a prophetic way, the exhibition also refers to the current drought and, more generally, to the effects of climate change, becoming an allegory of the contemporary world.

Conceived in dialogue with Gallerie Estensi’s site in Modena and inspired by works from Galleria Estense’s cycle of paintings by Tintoretto and by prints from the Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, the exhibition is the result of an exploratory and imaginative process by a leading contemporary artist, carried out in the context of this region’s culture.Inspired by magnificent illustrations selected from the pages of Biblioteca Estense’s precious books, Starling designed the large corresponding ceramic flooring, which has been created for the museum thanks to the contribution of the Marazzi company, world market leader in the sector.

The exhibition forms part of an annual programme launched in 2021 which sees contemporary artists engage with works from the museum’s collections and with themes that arise from them. Each year, the ‘artist in residence’ project invites an artist to inhabit and establish a dialectical relationship with the museum. Thus, contemporary art becomes part of a museum of historical collections, not as an extraneous add-on but as the translator of issues that the contemporary world is forcing the museum to face.