MATtam 85
Manto Arte Temporanea | Temporary Art Manto
short exhibitions in found spaces
Sala Ex Mondadori | Palazzo Te | Mantua
Meri Gorni
The twelve keys (drawings and reading)
Sunday March 29th 2026
only between 10:30 AM and 12:30 PM
"...and the rooster crows, dawn breaks, and my tale is finished," thus concludes the storyteller.
(The time has come to awaken from the dreamlike atmosphere of the story).
The theme of awakening, of eyes that must open, has always enchanted me.
Fairytale characters are archetypal figures. The fairytale is a collective story and tells a truth about us. A prelude to reality, the fairytale is a truth that can only be told through images.
The fairytale is the most human thing there is.
On Sunday, we will enter Palazzo Te and leave with the question: "Are fairytales within us or are we in fairytales?"
Meri Gorni lives and works in Paderno Dugnano (Milan). She studied Philosophy at the University of Milan. Meri Gorni writes and draws. When she writes, she talks about painting and images.
In her drawings, photographs, and videos, there's always a word, a phrase, a concept related to reading and writing, because for her, drawing and writing have the same root. For over twenty years, she has been committed to building a visual vocabulary where each word corresponds to a video. Her books are included in the Martano Collection at the J. Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum, New York, and in the Della Grazia Collection at the Mart in Rovereto.
Among her solo exhibitions: Italian Cultural Institute, Ljubljana; Botanical Garden, Bergamo; New Morone Gallery, Milan; Cavò, Trieste; Palazzo Morando, Milan; Villa Croce Museum of Contemporary Art, Genoa; Philological Circle, Milan; Martano Gallery, Turin; PAV Museum, Berchidda; Kunst Meran Arte, Merano; Mudima Foundation, Milan; Studio Tommaseo, Trieste; Placentia Gallery, Piacenza; Salvatore & Caroline Ala; Neon, Bologna; Maria Cilena Gallery, Milan; House of the Fairies, Salgaredo, Padua; Villa dei Pini, Bogliasco Foundation, Bogliasco; Palazzo Dandolo Parisi, Venice. Shelf Life, Trieste. Casa Manzoni, Brusuglio.
Her publications include: Rooms, Corraini Editore, 2024; Meri Gorni, Postmedia Books, 2021; Exercises in Seeing, Corraini Editore, 2019; Debt of Love, Campanotto Editore, 2017; At the Table, sedizioni publisher, 2015; As Promised, Corraini Edizioni, 2013; Trilogy of Waiting, Manni Editore, 2012; I Send You, As Promised, My Portrait, Archivio di Nuova Scrittura, Milan 2009; To My Father, Campanotto Editore, 2009; Book, Artandgallery, Milan 2004; Meeting with Artists and Poets, Il Ramo d'Oro Trieste 2002; Fifty-Nine Author's Recipes, Edizioni L’Obliquo Brescia 2000. She has presented his books in galleries, libraries, private homes, festivals, and museums.
"Every key turns in one direction or another, closes or opens doors, welcomes or protects, ultimately sealing the thresholds of our imagination or opening them wide beyond the known world." Donata Negrini
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