THROUGH HER LENS. Images as Infrastructures of the Contemporary

3 October – 28 February

Opening Saturday, 3 October 2026, at 6:00 PM

THROUGH HER LENS. Images as Infrastructures of the Contemporary

The exhibition Through Her Lens explores how contemporary images have evolved from simple representations into genuine “infrastructures” capable of shaping subjectivity, memory, and power relations. The title does not refer to an essentialist notion of the “female gaze”; rather, it employs the “lens” as a critical device through which to deconstruct today’s visual regimes. Within this framework, photography moves beyond its traditional two-dimensional boundaries, fluidly intersecting with video, performance, archives, and installation.

The exhibition creates an intergenerational dialogue among 32 international women artists — from pioneering figures such as Cindy Sherman, Francesca Woodman, and Letizia Battaglia to some of the most radical contemporary voices — and unfolds across four highly topical thematic sections:

Body, Threshold, and the Discontinuity of the SubjectThis section traces the evolution from the fragmentation of the self to the biopolitical and technological tensions surrounding today’s hypermediated bodies.

Memory, Archive, and the Construction of the PastBeginning with documentary activism, this section moves towards an approach in which artists act as “archaeologists,” revealing history as a malleable material in a constant process of rewriting.

THROUGH HER LENS. Images as Infrastructures of the Contemporary

Ecologies of PerceptionThis section redefines the landscape, stripping it of its role as a mere backdrop and transforming it into a complex, post-anthropocentric relational system.

Beyond the Medium and Politics of the Gaze

This section explores the evolution of intermedia practices and examines today’s infrastructures of algorithmic surveillance, reaffirming the inherently political nature of the act of looking.

Beyond investigating the transformations of the image, the exhibition offers an in-depth reflection on the emancipation of women within the art system. It symbolically traces their emergence from patriarchal dynamics to celebrate a present in which women’s artistic expression asserts itself through its extraordinary power of critique and inquiry, no longer requiring gender-based labels.

THROUGH HER LENS

Images as Infrastructures of the Contemporary

3 October 2026 — 28 February 2027

THE PLACE / U-ART-P APS

Via Don Luigi Palazzolo 42, Bergamo

Curated by Oliviero Falconi

Exhibition design by Manuela Parrino

OPENING

Saturday, 3 October 2026, at 5:00 PM