Hypnequinomagia, The Magic of the Sleeping Horses, is a group exhibition that takes place at Combo, from 9 to 25 November 2019.

It presents the work of 19 international artists based in Amsterdam, produced in collaboration with the Dirty Art Foundation, an independent artist-led organisation founded in 2017 by a group of artists that attended the Sandberg Instituut of Amsterdam, and Microclima, a research-driven programme that focuses on the natural world and the public sphere founded in 2011, housed in the Serra dei Giardini in Venice.

The artists present a site-specific installation for the Crociferi’s main cloister made of materials to travel with, and a room with video projections and performances. The collective’s work focuses on self-organisation and in situ interventions to construct a space that reflects on the contemporary identity of Venice as an allegory of a global hostel.

Hypnequinomagia, Installation View, 2019

The title of the exhibition is a neologism that refers to two works, symbol of the city of Venice, linked to the journey between the real and the imaginary: the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, manuscript attributed to Francesco Colonna and printed in Venice by Aldo Manuzio in 1499, and the horses of St. Mark, arrived from Byzantium in 1204 and placed on the facade of the homonymous basilica.

The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, one of the most beautiful books in the history of printing, is an intrepid dream of the protagonist Poliphilio who tries to find his lover Polia, taking a journey into the soul.

The horses of St. Mark are among the most admired, photographed and fabled works in the history of Venice. Having travelled for more than a thousand years through different cities and historical moments, these statues represent one of the most emblematic symbols of the city.

Through the languages of archaeology, cryptography, mysticism, (post-)industry, ecology, and hospitality the exhibition proposes a reconfiguration of traditional historical narratives to discuss the potentiality of myth-making for creating other future scenarios.

Participating artists: Nicola Baratto (IT), Gamze Baray (TR), Quentin Dupuy (FR), Andy Garcia Vidal (ES), Lotte Hardeman (NL), Constance Hinfray (FR), Alban Karsten (NL), Tom Kemp (GB), Aurélien Lepetit (FR), Andrea Lopez (MX), Kolbrun Löve (IS), Kitty Maria (NL), Monica Mays (ES), Aaron McLaughlin (IE), Yiannis Mouravas (GR), Angi Nend (CH), Maarten Nico (NL), Greg Früchtnicht Ponchak (US), Eurico Sá Fernandes (PT).

Opening hours

9-25 November 2019, daily 12:00 – 18:00

Opening 9 November 17:00 – 21:00