Kill The Reference
Francesco De Prezzo

02.05.26-28.05.26

The modular steel and frosted-glass structures by Francesco De Prezzo move through the exhibition space as perceptual filters. Their translucent surfaces interrupt vision, redirect the gaze, and generate a constant tension between what appears and what remains elusive. This tension lies at the core of the artist’s practice: an ongoing investigation into the unstable boundary between exposure and concealment, between the object and its staging, between physical reality and the way it is perceived.

With "KILL THE REFERENCE", this inquiry becomes further radicalized. The steel structures do not merely support or organize the exhibition; they reveal its provisional and performative nature, transforming the exhibition itself into an open system of visual relations, crossings, and interferences.

Originating from the reconfiguration of stands, supports, and equipment drawn from film-set production, this series of installations resonates with De Prezzo’s broader practice, often centered on the paradox of the absent artwork or its substitution through placeholders. The glass panels do not attempt to conceal a hidden content. Instead, they expose the very mechanisms through which the exhibition is constructed, perceived, and visually experienced.Through these installations, De Prezzo further develops a reflection on staging as a constitutive element of the artwork itself: the exhibition space, its supports, and its display devices cease to function as neutral structures and become the true subject of the work.

---

INDEX  NEXT