Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo
13 November 2026 - 17 January 2027
The Blank is pleased to present in the historic Palazzo della Ragione in Bergamo, Sun and Shadow, a solo exhibition by the American artist Alex Da Corte, curated by Stefano Raimondi. The exhibition inaugurates the new edition of ArtDate, the Festival of Contemporary Art promoted and supported by the Lombardy Region and the Municipality of Bergamo, which animates the city with over forty appointments including exhibitions, meetings and events spread throughout the territory. The guiding theme of the 2026 edition is MAGIC.
From November 13, 2026 to January 17, 2027, Da Corte, one of the most influential artists on the international contemporary scene, returns to Italy with a new project conceived specifically for the spaces of Palazzo della Ragione. During his career, the artist has exhibited at some of the most important museum institutions in the world, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, developing an immediately recognizable visual language, capable of interweaving popular imagination, collective memory and existential reflection.
At the center of the exhibition is Sun and Shadow, a monumental 16 x 12 meter carpet that transforms the historic architecture of the Palace into an immersive and walkable environment. The work starts from an apparently simple image: a flower and its shadow. Looking carefully at the composition, however, a subtle dissonance emerges. The flower seems to have bent towards the ground, while its shadow continues to remain erect, as if image and reflection no longer shared the same reality.
Alex Da Corte has created an image capable of working from any direction. Depending on where we are, the flower can appear fragile and the shadow strong, or the opposite. What looks like a fall can become a rebirth; What appears to be a defeat can turn into a new form of growth.
Sun and Shadow is produced by The Blank Contemporary Art with the support of Fondazione Cariplo as part of the Made In project. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Palazzo Monti and made possible thanks to the partnership with Aquafil S.p.A., one of the leading producers of synthetic fibers and recognized worldwide for ECONYL® yarn, coming from the recycling of scraps and waste, and the company Radici Pietro Industries & Brands S.p.A., a historic Italian manufacturer of textile flooring. The two manufacturing companies share an interest in sustainability and cutting-edge research.