Roberto Fassone – Il ritornello immortale
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of its founding, Gelateria Sogni di Ghiaccio presents “Il ritornello immortale”, a solo exhibition by Roberto Fassone, curated by Saverio Verini, on view until 11 November 2026 at the space located at via Tanari Vecchia 5a, Bologna. The exhibition marks the return of an artist who, in 2016, inaugurated the history of Gelateria Sogni di Ghiaccio with a rather unusual work: giving the space its name. Fassone devised a series of names, each accompanied by logos and descriptions, and organised a knockout tournament to determine which one would ultimately identify the space and its project. Ten years later, the artist returns to the same place with a work that, rather than looking back, imagines what might happen over the coming decade. “Il ritornello immortale” brings together a series of performances conceived by Fassone for the next ten years, from now until 2036. In the exhibition space, a multitude of coloured sheets are arranged across the walls in an apparently random configuration. Here and there, texts in Italian and Dutch—the language spoken by the artist’s great-grandfather—describe actions and situations yet to take place. A sound collage of musical excerpts and voices accompanies the exhibition, contributing to the creation of an environment in which temporalities, references and imaginaries overlap. Through his characteristic approach to play, disorientation and the construction of unexpected possibilities, Fassone turns the anniversary into an opportunity to project himself into the future. The exhibition thus becomes a way of questioning time, memory and the future of a place that has continuously changed shape over the past ten years. The opening on 29 October was accompanied by “Possedute”, a performance by Roberto Fassone and Carolina Cappelli. The project unfolds through a sequence of tracks performed in lip-sync. The exhibition is part of the celebrations marking ten years of Gelateria Sogni di Ghiaccio, founded on 30 October 2016 by Marco Casella, Filippo Marzocchi and Mattia Pajè. Since then, the space has hosted over one hundred artists, musicians and performers and presented more than eighty exhibitions, establishing itself as a key place for experimentation, exchange and cultural production. Since 2024, Gelateria Sogni di Ghiaccio has described itself as a friends-run space: a collectively managed project bringing together people with different practices, interests and perspectives. This organisational model emerged from the need to share the workload and broaden the range of voices involved in shaping the programme. To mark its tenth anniversary, Gelateria Sogni di Ghiaccio has also launched a crowdfunding campaign to support its 2026 programme. The fundraiser offers artworks, artist editions, archival publications and other contributions created by the space’s community. It represents an invitation to actively support the project’s continuity and to imagine its future together.