Walls Talk – Words and Walls

Calligraffiti

"Walls Talk – 55 Italian Walls – 55 Calligraffiti" is an international project on walls and words. 55 words were requested from 55 people who have a special connection with the Italian language: writers, poets, translators, teachers, artists etc. Their words were then given shape by 55 calligraphers and superimposed on 55 photos of Italian walls. This resulted in a book and an exhibition in Antwerp, Brussels, Rome, Lucca, Alden Biesen and Amersfoort (2015-2019). "Walls Talk – 55 Italian Walls – 55 Calligraffiti" is a project by Joris Wouters in association with Joke van den Brandt (Kalligrafia) and Emiliano Manzillo (Dante Alighieri Anversa), with the support of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura.

Metanimalia

Following the exhibitions "3x10 Italian Walls" (2017) and "Doppio sguardo sull’Italia" (2017), there was "D’ArTE", an event organised by Dante Alighieri Anversa and Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts in April 2019. A new series of works entitled “Metanimalia” followed in 2020. The Metanimalia cycle consists of "12 Italian collages" and "12 mischievous assemblages" on the theme of the destructive relationship between humans and animals, climate change and the coronavirus.

Venezia-Pompei

“Venezia-Pompei. Water and Fire” is a series of collages focusing on the walls of Pompeii and the walls of Venice. Walls with and without graffiti enter into dialogue with each other. Pompeii was destroyed by fire. Will Venice be destroyed by water? And what do the walls of Venice tell us?