Concilium | On the vulnerability of human relationships

Concilium is a gathering of international contemporary art galleries that come together in Cremona to showcase their artists’ works in the context of a legendary palace and within the narrative offered by its last inhabitant, the non-academic philosopher Giulio Grasselli. This orchestrated encounter of people and artworks aims to create a polyphonic discourse about the vulnerability of human relationships. The city’s cultural institutions and historical artistic heritage serve as the fertile soil that nurtures this peculiar cultural experience. Participating galleries:

CLIMA (Milan, IT): Matteo Nasini, Justine Neuberger. CONRADI (Hamburg, DE): Thomas Jeppe. DAMIEN AND THE LOVE GURU (Zurich, CH): Jannis Marwitz, Christiane Blattmann. TARA DOWNS (New York, USA): Tsai Yun-Ju, Lu Ferreira. ERMES ERMES (Rome, IT): Lorenzo Silvestri, Valerie Giampietro, Behrang Karimi. LAUREL GITLEN (New York, USA): Matthew Watson, Sam Linguist, Peggy Chiang. HUSSENOT (Paris, FR): Ciprian Mureşan. KIN (Brussels, BE): Zuza Golińska. 243 LUZ (Margate, UK), Racheal Crowther, Solomon Garçon, Ben Gomes, Alex Heard and Marlie Mul. MOLITOR (Berlin, DE): Lizzi Bougatsos, Tess Wei. SOUTH PARADE (London, UK): Georgina Hill. SOPHIE TAPPEINER (Wien; AU), Kyle Thurman. TRIANGOLO (Cremona, IT): Nicole Colombo.

Giulio Grasselli. A “non-academic” philosopher, scholar and writer, Giulio Grasselli (1902 – 1992) was close to Piero Martinetti, Benedetto Croce, Ludovico Geymonat, and Norberto Bobbio, with whom he collaborated on the Rivista di Filosofia. His intellectual activism is based on the idea of purus philosophus, purus stupidus, derived from Croce. Grasselli was committed to defending the artistic and cultural heritage of Cremona, with particular attention to the historic Medieval center of the city. A militant in the Italian Liberal Party, he was a columnist for “Il Mondo” and the first president of the Cremona section of Italia Nostra. Giulio Grasselli was also the last inhabitant of Palazzo Magio Grasselli, where he partially set “Storia di una mente”, an autobiographical novel in which he recounts his own intellectual evolution (Laterza, 1932).

The Manfredini room. Signed and dated 1785 by Giovanni Manfredini, the sophisticated decorative cycle of frescos that decorates the large hall overlooking the current Via XX Settembre was conceived by the artist in collaboration with Abbot Isidoro Bianchi. Manfredini composes the room in every detail, including the design of the doors. At the center of the main walls, two large-format paintings represent views of ruins in neoclassical style, in clear contrast with the solid architectural elements that frame them. The complex theory of symbols inserted between the architectural elements is clearly Masonic, although it does not repeat the structure of the Temple of Solomon, in the characteristic configuration of the Lodge.

September 4, 2025