CLAIRE FONTAINE: A USER’S MANUAL
Curated by Simone Ciglia
with Anita Chari
December 22, 2026 – March 31, 2027
Press preview
Saturday, December 19, 2026, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Opening
Saturday, December 19, 2026, 6:30 p.m.
The exhibition Claire Fontaine: a user’s manual, curated by Simone Ciglia with Anita Chari, is on view from December 22, 2026, to March 31, 2027. The press preview will be held on Saturday, December 19, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with the opening scheduled for 6:30 p.m. the same day.
The exhibition project takes an experimental approach, beginning with Anita Chari’s book of the same name, published in English by Lenz Press in 2024 (Claire Fontaine: A User’s Manual). The book will be published in Italy for the first time to coincide with the exhibition, with support from the La Rocca Foundation. The monograph examines the work of Claire Fontaine, a conceptual and feminist art collective formed in Paris in 2004 and composed of Fulvia Carnevale and James Thornhill, using the tools of political science to highlight its principal theoretical and political concerns.
Claire Fontaine: A User’s Manual translates this reading into the exhibition space of the Fondazione La Rocca through the curatorial vision of Simone Ciglia: approximately thirty works, spanning pieces made over the past twenty years (2005–2026) and a new work produced for the occasion, are placed alongside wall-size enlargements of pages from the book that comment on them. The project thus takes the form of an exhibition-essay, built on a dialogue between the works and the critical text. The itinerary, which unfolds across all of La Rocca Foundation’s spaces, examines central questions in Claire Fontaine’s research, presenting the works in relation to the pages of Chari’s book—a visual manifestation of the interpenetration of theory and praxis. Working across diverse media—from neon to lightbox, from installation to sculpture and painting—and making extensive use of the readymade, the collective addresses themes related to feminism, capitalism, forms of domination, and the power dynamics of contemporary society.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue published by Allemandi and a Public Program of in-depth events, as well as guided tours for the public and for schools.