The large-scale city-wide event Young Talents in the Gallery will open on Thursday, June 26, from 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM. Organized by the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna in collaboration with the Association of Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries – Confcommercio Ascom Bologna – the initiative involves 29 galleries and exhibition spaces across the city, each presenting a dedicated exhibition project. Taking center stage: the works of current students and recent graduates from the past two years.

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On the occasion of Opentour 2025, LABS Contemporary Art presents Aesthetics in Tension, opening June 26, 2025, an exhibition curated by Luca Panaro. Aesthetics in Tension is a project in which young artists from the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna explore the language of video art, applying the knowledge gained during their three-year course in Film and Audiovisual Languages.

The two featured artists investigate certain aspects of contemporary life. One such theme is the cult of the individual, brought to light in Marco Erpete’s video work Beauty Center. In this piece, body care becomes ritual through a series of repeated gestures performed in a setting where the individual is the protagonist, though driven by societal expectations. Erpete presents bodies undergoing aesthetic treatments in a ritualized atmosphere that evokes the sacred. In this video installation, access to the images is intentionally veiled: the viewer’s first contact with the work is through stereophonic sound, preceded by a flash of light.

In Under the White, Sofia Gala Finotto uses her own body to portray a young woman caught in the act of eating. The frame splits, offering the viewer a dual perspective—above and below a richly set table. From the very first scene, a sense of discomfort is palpable, despite the dim lighting and refined cuisine. The elegantly dressed woman in white appears not to enjoy the food; in fact, she soon rejects it. An intermittent light flashes on her figure, transmitting a distress signal in Morse code. Below the table, the banquet’s remains reveal how beneath the polished surface of things, discomfort and unease often lie hidden.