Benni Bosetto: a performance at the Strozzina and a show at the Teatro dell’Oriuolo
From October 22 to December 23, 2026, IED Firenze and Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi present The Ballad of the Blue Kind by artist Benni Bosetto, a new project conceived specifically for the two venues. It includes an exhibition in the IED gallery spaces and two days of performance at the Strozzina in Palazzo Strozzi, on October 22 and 23, 2026, with the support of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
The Ballad of the Blue Kind explores the many shapes loneliness can take, told in two complementary moments that alternate presence and absence, sound and silence. At the Strozzina, five characters sing variations on a theme, telling solitudes that intertwine with one another, while in the former Teatro dell’Oriuolo drawing becomes a sculptural object, holding the memory of bodies and their stories within a large installation. The experience of the performance space finds a new register in IED’s contemplative stage set, where visitors meet a dimension of individual observation.
The Ballad of the Blue Kind portrays loneliness as an emotional state in constant motion, one that runs through every stage of life and carries both drama and lightness. Often understood as a form of separation from the world, loneliness is approached here as an experience that can also bring moments of fullness and awareness to light. The five characters, born from a weave of literary and artistic topoi and stereotypes of different kinds of solitude, are the starting point from which the artist developed songs, drawings, music and sets, and they give shape to the project across the two exhibition spaces.
A curatorial research project between the artist, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and IED Firenze’s Curatorial Practice master’s class
The project, which brings together an exhibition and a musical-inspired performance, grew out of a dialogue between Benni Bosetto, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the IED Firenze master’s class in Curatorial Practice, which contributed to its development and curatorial research. The apparent oxymoron of telling the idea of loneliness through many voices led to a rich search through literary, artistic and film sources, which inspired the artist to build a complex architecture that moves seamlessly between drawing, installation and music.
Benni Bosetto’s artistic research spans drawing, sculpture, installation and performance, focusing on the deconstruction and transformation of the body, understood as a space of possibility. The artist explores the human condition, probing the potential of contemporary rituals and the dynamics of collective memory to turn them into new visions of reality. Through a pre-logical visual language, Bosetto’s work fragments its subjects and reassembles them into layered narratives where her imagery takes shape. In these newly imagined worlds the body is in constant dialogue with its surroundings, redefining architecture and exhibition spaces as fluid, intimate and welcoming places. Blending materials and images in a balance between figuration and opacity, the artist deconstructs conventional notions, restoring a poetic dimension tied to the vital forces of the body.
The exhibition is curated by Daria Filardo, Art coordinator at IED Firenze, and Martino Margheri, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, with the support of the 2025-2026 Curatorial Practice master’s class: Lehar Anand Agarwal, Chiara Bichi, Gloria Borchi, Katrina Buchberger – Brzezinski, Pietro Frisoni, Thalyta Gama Da Silva, Hannah Gibson, Mireia Massanés Farràs, Sophio Naneishvili, Carlotta Paolucci, Lidiia Tarabukina, Chiara Uccelli Arias, Yun Xia.
“With The Ballad of the Blue Kind, the Master in Curatorial Practice class worked alongside Benni Bosetto and the curators, taking part in a process in which ideas take shape through discussion and responsibility for the choices made,” said Benedetta Lenzi, Director of IED Firenze, at the press conference presenting the project.
Arturo Galansino, Director General of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, introduced the new project devoted to Benni Bosetto, one of the most original and significant voices in Italian art, noting that the performance hosted in the Strozzina is the starting point of a path that continues for visitors at IED Firenze.
Benni Bosetto (Merate, 1987) lives and works in Milan. After graduating from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, she earned a master’s degree at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam. Her solo shows include those at Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan (2026), Museo della Marineria in Pesaro (2024), MAMbo in Bologna (2022), Almanac in Turin (2020) and Kunstraum in London (2019). Her work has been shown at major institutions including Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin and Guarene (2026, 2023, 2020), Spazio Maiocchi in Milan (2026), Madre in Naples (2025), Castello di Rivoli in Turin (2024), MAXXI L’Aquila (2022), GAMeC in Bergamo (2022), the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome (2021), the Quadriennale d’arte at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome (2020) and Fondazione Baruchello, Rome (2018).
The partnership between Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and IED Firenze
Since 2021, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and IED Firenze have built an ongoing partnership, a project in which training, education and cultural production live side by side. The Foundation’s program of international exhibitions is woven into IED’s academic path, creating concrete opportunities for young professionals entering the fields of art and curating. These projects give students ground on which to develop curatorial ideas: a genuine training space in which to apply and gain skills, moving naturally between theoretical research and hands-on project work. The partnership between the two institutions has produced group and solo exhibitions with Italian and international artists, tested new curatorial and exhibition formats, and explored participatory projects, performances, workshops and public programs, along with catalogues that reflect on the experiences gained.
