La Nuit Blanche at La Villa Médicis

We are pleased to announce the participation of Hamedine Kane, a fellow at Villa Médicis (2023-2024) for the The Notte Bianca.

At the French Academy in Rome, Hamedine Kane is developing a research project on three great black American writers exiled in Paris in the second half of the 1940s: Richard Wright, Chester Himes and James Baldwin. His project takes the form of action-based research on the mode of speculative inquiry that pays close attention to “situated knowledge”, and is based on the testimonies of researchers, literary critics, publishers, historians, theorists, geographers, city specialists and tourist guides, as well as hoteliers, inhabitants and tenants of places of life and celebration.

The Notta Bianca presents the work of the current fellows in residence at the French Academy in Rome. The Notte Bianca offers the Roman public the opportunity to discover the fellow’s research and experimentation in the fields of visual arts, music, literature, restoration, art history and curatorship. In the framework of Villa Medici, a dialogue is established between contemporary creation, history and landscape.

Performances, readings, concerts, installations and screenings unfold in the spaces of Villa Medici: these encounters mark the time of the visit and weave a reflection with the architecture and nature of this place. They give the experience of the multiplicity of research that animates the French Academy in Rome and that, starting from this place, is linked to the city. Conceived as a promenade between historic edifice and gardens of Villa Medici, the 2023 edition of the Notte Bianca opens for the first time the doors of some of the studios of the fellows, workspaces that have hosted artists and academics in residence over the centuries.

The exhibition itinerary, articulated as a choreography of sounds, shapes, lights and voices gives back, through the alternation of private and public spaces, the scenario in which the different researches take shape.

Accompanying the event are artifacts created during a didactic workshop designed for the younger public, invited to observe, visit, and actively participate in the Notte Bianca, as well as a lighting installation that guides visitors in discovering the artworks while also providing a personal interpretation of Villa Medici.

Photography Credit: © Margherita Nuti e Daniele Molajoli