The giant goose and other wonders, Exhibition Santa Margherita Palace, Modena

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The giant goose and other wonders

From 18 September to 8 February 2026

Accepted the Artsupp Card

Santa Margherita Palace

Corso Canalgrande, 103, Modena

Closed now: open at 11:00

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The giant goose and other wonders is the exhibition of Paolo Ventura curated by Chiara Dall'Olio and Francesca Fontana.

The giant goose and other wonders presents a selection of works that reflect the creative universe of Paolo Ventura, characterized by settings suspended between truth and fantasy, photographs frequently contaminated by pictorial intervention and collage. Sometimes the artist himself or his family become part of these worlds by portraying themselves: thus short fairy-tale and surreal narratives emerge, highlighting the fascination for the world of the circus and disguise, as well as the passion for uniforms and war stories. To create his photographic sets, the Milanese artist builds dioramas with cardboard and objects found at flea markets, giving life to a mise en abîme that becomes a central element of his poetics. The settings are sometimes raw, sometimes dreamlike, evoking distant memories experienced firsthand or told. The places appear somehow familiar, part of a shared imaginary, but not really identifiable.

The exhibition path unfolds at Palazzo Santa Margherita and will also have a special section in the spaces of the Museo della Figurina where the artist, invited to explore the historical heritage of the Museum, takes part in an original exhibition project that triggers a dialogue between the figurines and his personal imagination, investigating thematic nuclei particularly dear to him through photography: time, identity, the world of the circus and masks, uniforms, urban views. The juxtaposition between the two expressive means highlights a common aesthetic of the fragment in which each image can be part of a series and open different stories depending on who observes it. In a world characterized by speed and digital oblivion, Paolo Ventura's shots, together with the chromolithographs, force a slowdown, require attention, observation, imagination, and silence. It is not only the aesthetics that involve the viewer, but the ability to activate individual and collective memories, open gateways in time, and reflect on what has been and what could have been.

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	opens - closes	last entry
monday	Closed now
tuesday	Closed now
wednesday	11:00 - 13:00
wednesday		16:00 - 19:00
thursday	11:00 - 13:00
thursday		16:00 - 19:00
friday	11:00 - 13:00
friday		16:00 - 19:00
saturday	11:00 - 19:00
sunday	11:00 - 19:00

The giant goose and other wonders

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