Contemporary Art Collection "Silenzi eloquenti"
"Silenzi eloquenti ("Eloquent Silences") is the contemporary art collection of the University of Padua dedicated to women's artistic production.
The project identifies the University's libraries as the places for the enhancement and conservation of works of art, generating a women's art collection spread throughout those places constitutively dedicated to the transmission and conservation of culture, where the works in the collection activate a very urgent reflection on the presumed neutrality of knowledge, unhinging the patriarchal dynamics still underlying the transmission of the canon.
The collection offers a glimpse into the richness and variety of women's artistic production, offering works by artists who are heterogeneous from a generational point of view, the languages adopted and the artistic parables.
Five Unipd libraries are involved:
- library of Sciences of Antiquity Art Music Liviano (piazza Capitaniato, 5 - Padua): site-specific installation by Liliana Moro L’anima senza il corpo gioca;
- Beato Pellegrino library (via Beato Pellegrino, 28 – Padua): work by Silvia Giambrone Mirror n. 12;
- Central Library of Engineering (via Leonardo Loredan, 20 – Padua): blow-up by Mirella Bentivoglio Symbolic structure (L'Ovo di Gubbio);
- central library of Psychology "Fabio Metelli" (via Venezia, 12/2 – Padua): sculpture by Mirella Bentivoglio La scrittura del silenzio;;
- "Someda" Information Engineering Library (via Giovanni Gradenigo, 6/A – Padua): graphic work by Mirella Bentivoglio Mirella Bentivoglio Analisi semiologica – La “fattura” per non pensare, a donation from the artist's heirs in memory of Giulia Cecchettin.
The collection is open and constantly growing through new acquisitions and donations.
The "Eloquent Silences" project, carried out thanks to PAC funding - Piano per l'arte contemporanea of the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity - Ministry of Culture 2024 and 2025, was promoted by the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Padua in collaboration with the University Center for Museums, the University Center for Libraries and the Elena Cornaro University Center. In particular, it involves Guido Bartorelli, University advisor for contemporary art, Greta Boldorini, curator of the project, and Chiara Marin, curator of the University's historical-artistic heritage.
The catalog of the "Eloquent Silences" collection is published by Edizioni Tlon.
