On the Edge of the Eyelid
Works by Fabio Barile, Ezio D’Agostino, Luca Spano
Curated by Giangavino Pazzola
20 September – 16 November 2025
Opening: Saturday, 20 September, 11:00 am
The Fondazione Costantino Nivola – Orani / Museo Nivola is delighted to present the exhibition On the Edge of the Eyelid, featuring a group of photographic installations that explore the borders between artistic research and scientific investigation, with special
reference to the study of dark matter and dark energy.
The project, supported by Strategia Fotografia 2024, promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture, presents three new projects by Fabio Barile (Barletta, 1980), Ezio D’Agostino (Vibo Valentia, 1979) and Luca Spano (Cagliari, 1982).
The artists participated in a research residency that put them in contact with scientists and researchers from leading institutes, including the Gran Sasso Science Institute (L’Aquila), the Physics Department at the University of Cagliari, the INFN – Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare and the association IDeAS (Cagliari), as well as the Sos Enattos sites (Lula), selected for the future construction of the Einstein Telescope, and the Sardinia Radio Telescope (San Basilio, CA).
The Projects
– In his photographic installation, Fabio Barile presents three different attempts to represent the invisible, mediated by direct experiences that alter and transform the process of vision, rendering it inevitably flawed. Observing the work tools used in
physics and photography (and, more generally, knowledge production), he was inspired to record the results of an ironic intellectual challenge to deconstruct knowledge, disassembling and reassembling his large-format camera to generate a
potentially infinite series of precarious and useless tools. A second series of photographs reflects on the act of looking ‘through’ something, distorting physical space and amplifying perception. The installation is completed by a sequence of
images of hands indicating something always outside the frame, destined to remain unknown.
– Ezio D’Agostino reflects on the gap between the visual language of photography and that of scientific research, both driven by the desire to give visible shape to phenomena and, at the same time, exposed to the unpredictable role of chance.
After painstaking research on modes of representation in scientific literature, the artist experimented in the darkroom, choosing, however, unusual conditions that are difficult to control: working in diffuse light, inserting crystals into the body of the camera and stimulating the photosensitive material with unexpected energy reactions. The results, which evoke Italian experimental photography in the 1930s and Surrealism, put photographic material to the test in an attempt to sidestep or betray the expectations of research.
– Luca Spano presents two series of works that assemble different materials – photo paper, laser-engraved glass and metal – and document the trace of invisible phenomena. Taking inspiration from the CYGNO experiment, a project led by GSSI
to develop a high-precision time projection chamber (TPC) to record rare events, the artist constructs a visual imaginary that is new even to the scientific field. His installations question the inadequacy of all forms of knowledge, advancing enigmatic theories about representing reality and linking image and text as complementary research tools.
Artists Bio
Fabio Barile (Barletta, 1980) lives and works in Rome. He graduated in Photography from the Fondazione Studio Marangoni, Florence and, that same year, exhibited at MAXXI, Rome as a finalist for the Directorate-General for Contemporary Art and Architecture’s
Atlante Italiano 007 award (2007). He published Among in the Documentary Platform series ‘Visions and Documents’, a project about coastal erosion that investigates the landscape’s natural processes, still explored in his work, exhibiting his works in group
shows at the Centre d’art Nei Liicht (LUX) and the Athens Photo Festival (GR) (2009).
He exhibited An Investigation of the Laws Observable in the Composition, Dissolution and Restoration of Land, a project that puts photography in dialogue with archival material, at Galleria Matèria and at the ICCD, Rome (2017). With Domingo Milella, he participated in
the exhibition Le Forme del Tempo at the Fondazione Pescheria, Pesaro (2019) and at the Baths of Diocletian, Rome (2022). He showed his work in the exhibition On Earth at Les Rencontres d’Arles (FR, 2019). FOAM Magazine published a portfolio of images from his
volume Works for a Cosmic Feeling, a finalist for the MACK First Book Award (2021) and published by Witty Books.
Ezio D’Agostino (Vibo Valentia, 1979) lives and works in the south of France. He studied Archaeology at the University of Florence and Photography at the Scuola Romana. His work has been exhibited at European museums, galleries and festivals, including the
Athens Photo Festival (GR, 2016), the Centre National de l’Audiovisuel, Dudelange (LUX, 2019), the Noorderlicht Festival (the Netherlands, 2019), Getxo Photo (SP, 2019), the Institut pour la Photographie, Lille (FR, 2021). He presented the project True Faith, about
the anthropological and visual phenomenon of religious apparitions in Italy, at Rencontres d’Arles (FR, 2022). He is a recipient of various research grants and international awards, including the Bourse à la Création et à la Recherche of the Institut pour la Photographie,
Lille (FR, 2020), the Soutien à la Photographie Documentaire of the Centre National des Arts Plastiqus (FR, 2022), Strategia Fotografia (IT, 2024). His works are found in private collections and in the permanent collections of the Centre National de l’Audiovisuel (LUX),
the Fonds Régional pour l'Art Contemporain (FR) and the Fotomuseum Winterthur (CH).
Luca Spano (Cagliari, 1982) lives and works in Cagliari. He studied Communication Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome, Photography at the London College of Communication (UK) and Visual Arts at Cornell University (US). His work has been exhibited at museums, galleries and festivals including MACRO, Rome (2013), Breda Photo (NL, 2012), Savvy Contemporary, Berlin (DE, 2013), the Italian Cultural Institute, Paris (FR, 2019), Museo MAN, Nuoro (2023). He was artist in residence at Fundacion
Botin (ES, 2012), KHI, Florence, Arts Letters and Numbers (US, 2019), Deutsches Optisches Museum (DE, 2022), DIST Politecnico di Torino, GSSI (IT, 2024), McGill University (CA, 2025) and others. He is a recipient of various prizes, including the MEAD
Fellowship (UK, 2013), Einaudi Research Grant (US, 2015), John Hartell Award (US, 2015), Graziadei Prize (IT, 2013), the New Work Grant by Prospect Art (US), Strategia Fotografia (2022 and 2024) and Promozione della Fotografia all’Estero (2024). He is full
professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Sassari (IT) and at the IED (IT). His works are found in public and private collections.
Curator Bio
Giangavino Pazzola (Sassari, 1981). With a Ph.D. in Urban and Cultural Studies from the Politecnico di Torino, since 2018 he has been curator at CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia di Torino, where he is in charge of research projects on contemporary art,
including the European programme for emerging artists, FUTURES Photography. He was curator of the Photography and Moving Images section of ArteFiera, Bologna (2023–2025) and artistic and executive manager of EXPOSED – Torino Foto Festival (2023, 2024). He works with national and international organisations and institutions, for which he has conceived and curated projects and exhibitions including Museomontagna, Turin (2020), Palazzo Ducale, Genoa (2023), Copenhagen Photo (2024), Fotofestiwal Lodz (2024),
Museo Nivola, Orani (2020, 2024) and Museo MAN, Nuoro (2025). Visiting researcher at University of Birmingham, he has published articles on contemporary art and independent cultural production centres in international and national academic journals. He regularly
publishes monographs and catalogues on artists and exhibitions of contemporary photography. He teaches Aesthetics and History of Contemporary Photography at IED, Turin.
The project is supported by Strategia Fotografia 2024, promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture
Presentation
The exhibition will be presented to the public with the artists and the curator, by Roberto Concas, president of Fondazione Costantino Nivola, with Luca Cheri, director of Museo Nivola, at the museum on 20 September 2025 at 11:00 am.
Side Activities
The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication published by the French publishing house Empire and by a documentary by Alessandra Tocco about the research process.
Between 7 and 9 November 2025, there will be a masterclass and a public talk with the artists and curator at the Museo Nivola, Orani.
Fondazione and Museo Nivola – Orani (NU)
The mission of the Fondazione Costantino Nivola is to valorise and promote the artistic and personal legacy of Costantino Nivola (Orani, 1911–East Hampton, 1988), an artist, sculptor, graphic designer and art director of international renown. His work stands out for
the integration of visual arts and architecture, developed in the context of intense exchange between Italy and the United States in the twentieth century.
The Fondazione also supports and promotes contemporary art, recognising it as a critical tool for the cultural and social development of central Sardinia.
The Museo Nivola, Orani, surrounded by a city park, is home to the most important European collection of Nivola’s work and organises exhibitions of contemporary art, with special attention to the dialogue between the visual arts, design, architecture and the
environment.
