Tensione

Guendalina Urbani

3rd October 2025 – 10th January 2026

As the title suggests, the exhibition
Tensione
by artist Guendalina Urbani investigates the psychological and physical state that arises when one finds oneself in a conflict between perceived and actual reality.

What happens to our bodies when they’re in a state of tension? Tension is a physical symptom that responds to the fear of imminent danger, but it can also be linked to the perception of a hypothetical danger, which generates a state of stress. The exhibition questions the ability to distinguish real danger from perceptual deception, and opens a reflection on the degree of daily conditioning that leads to a disconnect between perception and reality.

Urbani’s work focuses on the relationship between perception and reality: she creates everyday, common objects with materials that distort their very nature, their principle of use, their static nature or identity. The confrontation between knowledge and perception thus reveals its ambiguities, and refers to a conceptual relationship with art. This is the case with “Indolora Innamora”: a series begun in 2015 in which the handles of certain knives have been replaced with other blades and transformed into objects that can even harm the person using them.

For the
Tensione
exhibition,
qwatz
has selected four of the artist’s works, while a fifth will be produced specifically for the occasion.

As usual, a work by the artist will be installed inside the Istituto Fisicoterapico di Torino, to engage patients and encourage them to engage with the project. IFT doctors will participate in a survey on the effects of tension on our bodies, to explain some of the characteristics of this symptom to patient.

On October 3rd, during the opening, Guendalina Urbani will create a new installation titled “Mi sciolgo per te,” which she will present to the public with a short performance. The installation will result in multiples, presented by SUTURA during the Artissima weekend.