A place to stay

A Place to Stay is a place to stay without a defined deadline, an elsewhere that contains and connects other places. It is not an isolated space: Cecilia
Mentasti started populating it who knows how long ago until it became a place inhabited not only by artists and women artists of the last century, but also by animals, specifically dogs.

The work, which is accompanied by this volume, is a sound installation composed of a selection of 200 stories of Italian artists told to 200 dogs. It is promoted by Video Sound Art and created thanks to the support of the MiC and the SIAE, as part of the ‘Per Chi Crea’ programme. The installation, presented in the spaces of Careof from 10 October to 1 November 2024, is accompanied by a photographic project, which collects the portraits of each dog listening, and by this editorial project.

The artist makes a personal rewriting of art history, selecting little-known works and sometimes reconsidering the role of traditionally neglected figures or those outside traditional art circuits.

What is art today and what role should it play in society? The dog, a recurring presence in art history - devotional icon and witness to social transformations - seems to be the right recipient of this question.