Adoration: Nothing Against

A large wall drawing and an animated film transform the parlor of a prison into a festive and multifunctional space. "Adoration," the name of the work by Pauline Curnier Jardin created for the Women's Casa di reclusione della Giudecca, was inaugurated on April 8, 2022, in Venice and is set to become a permanent installation exclusively for the prison community. The background and foreground of the project are narrated by its curators, the duo Francesco Urbano Ragazzi, describing a form of art liturgy that addresses the dynamics of social inclusion/exclusion. "Adoration" is a public artwork inaccessible to the general public; it is commissioned and made in collaboration with a group of inmates, inaugurated during the Venice Biennale, and yet its existence extends beyond the event. Beyond the time and space of art, beyond social masks, beyond cultural consumption.