There are no works hanging on the walls, no images to guide the eye. There is no stage, no moderator, no mediation. There is only the voice of the artists, put to the test in a direct, close, unpredictable confrontation. On the occasion of ART CITY Bologna 2026, the non-profit cultural association Alchemilla proposes Martial Artists - Art City Edition, the format conceived and curated by Veronica Santi that transforms dialogue into a practice of resistance and knowledge.
After the first eight meetings held between 2024 and 2025, Martial Artists returns with an edition designed specifically for the intense days of Arte Fiera, inserting itself in the program of ART CITY Bologna as a radical tool, capable of suspending the usual dynamics of the exhibition event to focus on what often remains on the margins: the living word of the artist.
Three dates (Feb. 2, 7 and 8) and twelve artists involved in six verbal encounters-meetings in which each pair is interviewed live without agreed-upon questions or any mediating figure. Allison Grimaldi Donahue and Ramona Ponzini, Sissi and Yuri Ancarani, Rudy Cremonini and Eugenia Vanni, Paolo Chiasera and Giulia Poppi, Alessandro Brighetti and Jacopo Benassi, Anna de Manincor and Emilio Fantin: pairings that do not seek reassuring affinities, but open to tensions, slippage, friction.
The reference to martial arts is not only metaphorical. As in a fight, discipline, technique, preparation and endurance come into play here, but above all the confrontation with the idea of invincibility and the possibility of failure. In Martial Artists, the adversary is never an enemy to be defeated, but rather a necessary presence: someone who puts one in crisis, who forces one to expose oneself, to reformulate, to lose one’s balance. It is in this unstable zone that dialogue becomes productive.
Everything focuses on voice, on listening time, on the ability to formulate questions and pause in answers. Each pair has about forty minutes to freely traverse themes, practices, experiences, doubts, political and existential positions. The result is never meant to be a linear or reconciled narrative, but an open field in which divergences, unexpected affinities, generative frictions emerge.
The audience is also called upon to play an active, if silent, role. The meetings are held behind closed doors, with a maximum of fifty participants, arranged in a circle around the place of confrontation. A symbolic ring is thus created, an intimate and concentrated space that allows one to witness up close the dialogue, the conflict and the resonances that occur. One does not witness a performance, but a process in action.
The conversations will not end in the time of the meeting. The live recordings will become a podcast pilot project, edited in audio post-production by Stefano D’Arcangelo (Nassau). The podcast will enter Alchemilla’s archive and be broadcast on industry broadcasters, extending the experience beyond the live moment and offering a new tool for critical and popular listening.
The schedule of meetings punctuates three days. Martial Artists kicked off last Feb. 2 at 6 p.m. with Allison Grimaldi Donahue and Ramona Ponzini, followed at 7:30 p.m. by Sissi and Yuri Ancarani. On Saturday, Feb. 7, at 3 p.m., it’s the turn of Rudy Cremonini and Eugenia Vanni, while at 4:30 p.m. Paolo Chiasera and Giulia Poppi face off. On Sunday, Feb. 8, at 11 a.m., Alessandro Brighetti and Jacopo Benassi open the last day, followed at 12:30 p.m. by Anna de Manincor and Emilio Fantin. Admission is free with reservations, up to a maximum of fifty seats, by writing to info@alchemilla43.it.
Created in 2024, Martial Artists has already involved several artists in previous years. The meetings that took place in 2024 and 2025 involved the following pairs: Marzia Migliora vs. Paolo Icaro; Zheng Ningyuan vs. Lorena Bucur; Alessandro Aprile vs. Paola Angelini; Stefania Galegati vs. Flavio Favelli; Cuoghi Corsello vs. Cuoghi Corsello; Giulia Cenci vs. Vincenzo Simone; Adelaide Cioni vs. Stefano Arienti; and Federico Tosi vs. Davide Sgambaro.
The project is promoted by Alchemilla, a non-profit cultural association active in research, experimentation and production in the visual and performing arts. Located in Palazzo Vizzani, one of the most significant historical places in late 16th century Bologna, Alchemilla aims to be a space for residency, encounter and contamination, where the past and the present intertwine in a daily practice of dialogue and openness.
|
| Bologna, here is Martial Artists, the format in which two artists duel with words |
Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.
IT
FR
DE
ES
CN