In Relation – Exhibition Opening

Children and families from Zumunchi e.V. and Kweli e.V., in collaboration with João Albertini and Henrique Entratice, will present their original play, Invisible Gardeners Beneath the Leaves as part of the opening.

With works by Vija Celmins, Paula Cortazar, Elena Damiani, Jonathas de Andrade, Gerda Gruber, Graciela Iturbide, Carlos Martiel, Abel Rodríguez and Tomás Saraceno  

Curated by Antonia Alampi  

In Relation charts relation as a shifting dynamic determined by a multiplicity of actors, ecologies and practices. In some works, relation is grounded in reciprocity: forest as living cosmology at the risk of erasure, a livelihood rooted in the ethics of taking only what is given. In others, relation becomes extractivist: land classified, catalogued, and managed. 

The notion of geological time appears throughout the exhibition as a reminder that stone and mineral duration exceeds industrial acceleration, while the body registers both biological cycles and structural pressure. Elsewhere, collaborative architectures follow material intelligence rather than impose control.  

Overhead, a comet extends these tensions to cosmic scale, reminding us that relations can also be indifferentand vast.

Rather than offering a single narrative In Relation brings these positions into proximity, allowing their differences to become perceptible. Conceived as a group exhibition within Spore’s broader program, the exhibition marks a moment of concentration in which the collection surfaces not as accumulation, but as a field of thought.

Program  

4:30 pm – Theater Performance - Invisible Gardeners Beneath the Leaves – Exhibtion Hall, first floor   

5:00 pm – Doors open to In Relation Exhibition – Cabinet, ground floor 

Invisible Gardeners Beneath the Leaves 

When we glance too quickly at a garden, what do we miss? What is revealed when we pause and closely observe what moves beneath the leaves? This theatrical journey moves through the lives of insects: the hunger of the larvae, the stillness of the cocoon, the joy of first flight, and the quiet wisdom of those who tunnel underground before the frost. These rhythms mirror the changing seasons: spring's awakening, summer's abundance, autumn's slowing down, and winter's silent transformation. Insects teach us that time is cyclical, and that beneath the leaves, life prepares, decays, and begins again. And again.   

Through a collaborative process involving children, parents, and elders, this theatre performance challenges adultism by inviting children to lead the storytelling process: among insects and gardens, care flows in persistent and collective forms. When we look closely, what once seemed invisible reveals itself: not because it has changed; but because our way of seeing it has. The resulting performance is an open-ended pedagogical tool that can be adapted and activated in different geographies and climatic contexts.    

With and by:

Zumunchi e.V. and Kweli e.V. with João Albertini & Henrique Entratice including the children and families: Anna Kranj, Anissa Stock, Awal Mohammed, Aya Kranj, Ciara Ben, Edwin Ben, Jamila Mohammed, Joel NtukuYoba, Odette Ntuku Yoba, Rahman Stock, Steffi Stock, Tifundi Bakari Nzeberi, Zhanna Kranj 

Foto credit: Nuestra Señora de las Iguanas (Our Lady of the Iguanas) by Graciela Iturbide