Art
The Work
CORTEMPORANEA #4
Bianca Bondi
Earth, Coral, Clouds
curated by Fiammetta Griccioli and Cloé Perrone
The fourth edition of CORTEMPORANEA presents Earth, Coral, Clouds, the first solo exhibition in Italy by South African artist Bianca Bondi, opening on May 17, 2025. Bondi is currently a fellow at the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici (2024-25) and a nominee for the 2025 Prix Marcel Duchamp.
Bianca Bondi transforms the courtyard and rooms of the 18th-century Palazzo Chigi Zondadari into a dynamic interplay of organic and inorganic forms in continuous flux. The exhibition title, Earth, Coral, Clouds, draws inspiration from philosopher Timothy Morton’s Dark Ecology, a text that challenges conventional ecological thought and invites us to confront darkness, the unknown, and the uncomfortable truths of our existence within the natural world. Following this philosophy, Bondi presents a series of site-specific interventions that engage with the cyclic nature of time through crystallization, oxidation, and chemical transformation. In dialogue with the palace’s frescoes and decorations, which evoke the coexistence of the natural, mythical, and human worlds, the artist reinterprets the power of ancient rituals and materials imbued with memory, creating fragile ecosystems where elements accumulate and transform over time, questioning the very idea of stability.
Within the context of Palazzo Chigi Zondadari, the exhibition amplifies the contrast between human intervention and the natural world, raising urgent questions about preservation, loss, and the future of our planet. In Siena, where history is embedded in materials—from bottini (underground aqueducts) to the timeless facades of palaces—Bondi’s work resonates with a layered and living past. Here, her pieces interact with the architecture not as inert objects but as evolving systems. The palace itself, steeped in memory, absorbs and reflects the introduced materials, reinforcing the idea that space, like nature, is never static.
Gallery
Bianca Bondi, Scrying in Astral Ponds, 2022. Site specific installation, mixed media. Photo Jean-Christophe Lett.
Artist
Bianca Bondi
Bianca Bondi (Johannesburg, South Africa, 1986) lives and works in Paris. Multidisciplinary in approach, her practice involves the activation or elevation of common objects through chemical reactions, primarily using saltwater. The materials she works with are chosen for their transformative potential or their intrinsic and symbolic properties. Her aim is to create experiences that go beyond the visual and sustain the life of matter, with a focus on interconnectedness, transience, and cycles of life and death. Passionate about ecology and occult sciences, Bondi combines these elements into transformative multidisciplinary works where the aura of objects plays a central role. Often site-specific, her poetic outcomes are deeply connected to the places in which they exist. She graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts de Paris-Cergy in 2012, after previously studying at the WITS School of the Arts in Johannesburg.
Visit
From May 19th to December 8th 2025
Palazzo Chigi Zondadari
Opening Hours
Courtyard: Monday – Friday 8:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Bianca Bondi Earth, Coral, Clouds nella Casa Museo: private visits and group tours by appointment only prenotazioni@palazzochigizondadari.com