In the exhibition Ab ovo / On Patterns Adelaide Cioni explores the importance of patterns in painting, performance, music and dance. The focus of Ab ovo (meaning ‘from the egg, from the very beginning’) is the recurrence of abstract patterns – stripes, triangles, grids, circles, stylised leaves and stars – both in artefacts and in nature.

Patterns are present throughout the space divided in six different sections: ‘The Window’, ‘Compilation’, ‘Back Room’, ‘Conservatory’, ‘The Silent Room’ and ‘I am a Fish’. These divisions take into account the specificity of Mimosa House, as Cioni finds the best container for each pattern.

Ab ovo. Black Triangles (2023) appears in The Window. It creates an introduction and dialogue for passersby. The exhibition unwarps in the Compilation section. The Compilation is composed of a playlist, songs dedicated to leaves and beaks, triangles and squares, sea and fire. Each painting has its own rhythm. Visitors are asked to go through this colorful labyrinth by touching, brushing and pushing by each element. This is essential to Cioni’s idea of experiencing patterns. It helps to make the works alive.

“Patterns are the visualisation of a rhythm in space” says Cioni. “This rhythm takes on different shapes and colours to express the different vibrations of whoever is creating it.” The Back Room serves as container for the performance, Song for a Triangle, a Circle, a Square (2023). The space gets activated by the performers and the triangle, circle and square dance. At other times the space is a container for reflecting on our rhythm in space.

Upstairs in the Conservatory is the film Kew. A Conversation in Green (2019). It exemplifies patterns in nature. The Silent Room offers the chance to look at three paintings, including Il Mare (2019). In the final space – I am a Fish – we are asked to contemplate the power of human and non-human transformation. Fishing Net (2023) works as a container for the three costumes of the dancers momentarily caught, waiting to be activated.

The exhibition ends as it begins with a painting from the series Ab ovo. Four Black Circles (2023). Among many things Ab ovo is a lens through which we can look at ways of using language and narration, at our relationship with nature and objects, at the way we can experience, arrest and manipulate time. It is a portal into our sense of community. The works shown in Ab ovo are a song of the margins, they refer to images that have no voice and no story, and they belong to each one of us.

Curated by Ilaria Puri Purini