From January 31 to April 6, 2026, the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna will host More Than This, an exhibition curated by Daniele Capra and presented by Fondazione Coppola in collaboration with the National Museums of Bologna-Regional Directorate National Museums Emilia-Romagna and theAcademy of Fine Arts of Venice. The project finds space in the Salone degli Incamminati and brings together more than fifty works on canvas and on paper by twelve artists united by their training experience within the Atelier F of the Venetian Academy.
The protagonists of the exhibition are Thomas Braida, Chiara Calore, Francesco Cima, Nebojša Despotović, Jingge Dong, Beatrice Gelmetti, Chiara Peručh, Paolo Pretolani, Adelisa Selimbašić, Danilo Stojanović, Aleksander Velišček and Maria Giovanna Zanella. Although belonging to the younger generation, these artists have attracted the attention of critics, museums and institutions in recent years, contributing to the delineation of a context that is recognized as one of the most relevant experiences that have recently emerged in contemporary Italian painting.
More Than This takes the form of a critical reconnaissance of what is referred to as a true school of painting, matured over time within the courses of the Venice Academy of Fine Arts. The exhibition project comes in continuity with The School of Venice, an initiative hosted by the Coppola Foundation last year, which laid the conceptual and methodological foundations for the Bolognese landing. The title itself suggests a reflection on the relationship between individual work and the collective dimension, emphasizing the value of artistic practice as a daily exercise based on discipline, time and dedication.
The exhibition highlights the variety of languages developed by the artists involved. The pictorial researches range from outcomes of a surreal matrix to solutions that recall metaphysical atmospheres, from a figuration charged with emotional tension to forms of fluid abstraction. This plurality is traced back to a common methodological approach, which is the hallmark of Atelier F. Two elements particularly define the shared approach within the atelier. The first concerns the relationship between artist and work, understood as a continuous and equal dialogue, sometimes even conflictual, in which the image emerges through a process of listening and direct confrontation with the painting-making. The painting emerges from a constant negotiation that can lead to unexpected outcomes. The second element is the collaborative and non-competitive method, developed by the teachers and practiced daily in the common work space. The works remain visible to all, fostering a dynamic of horizontal comparison in which individual achievement becomes part of a shared heritage and contributes to the construction of a form of collective intelligence.
“It is a great satisfaction for us that the research on the School of Venice, which was born in our spaces, continues today at the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna,” saysAntonio Michele Coppola, president of the Vicenza-based Foundation of the same name, which works to promote and support contemporary art.“With the exhibition More Than This, Fondazione Coppola expands its investigation by fostering the recognition of this group of artists, trained at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts, in a museum context of the highest profile.”
“A valuable critical reconnaissance, which puts the accent on a primary, yet often overlooked aspect in the critical consideration of art making: that of work,” points out Bologna National Museums - Regional Directorate National Museums Emilia-Romagna, Costantino D’Orazio. “Work understood as training, the experience of the individual and the group, as a necessary and foundational experience of our entire civil and democratic life. Work, then, as an activity of production but which, in its making, is itself a product of its own time.”
“Everything that is said during the confrontation phases,” explains the director of the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, Riccardo Caldura, “concerns very marginally the ’content’ interpretation; rather, there is a tendency to listen to the artist’s opinion on his own research in fieri, so as to make clearer his intentions and the relative points of fragility or tightness. The method aims to develop a conscious reappropriation of one’s making. In contemporary dematerialization and hyperproduction, something opens toward a restitution by images of one’s relationship with the world.”
"More Than This consists of more than fifty recent works, many of them made especially for the Bologna exhibition. The itinerary is constructed in a dialogic form by juxtaposing the works in a continuous visual confrontation, consistent with the workshop methodology practiced by Atelier F," concludes exhibition curator Daniele Capra. “The paintings that open the exhibition portray some of the artists who are part of that group, which are followed by conceptually coherent nuclei of works in which the authors are compared. What emerges is a great linguistic complexity of a school that is measured by relationship and collaborative capacity.”
 |
| An exhibition at the Pinacoteca di Bologna brings together twelve artists from Atelier F |
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