BARBARA PRENKA: WHAT LIES BEHIND THE BOUNDARIES OF A SHADOW?

Lottozero presents What Lies Behind the Boundaries of a Shadow?, Barbara Prenka’s solo exhibition featuring textile sculptures produced in Prato during her residency, curated by Alessandra Tempesti. The research of the Kosovo-born artist, who works between Berlin and Bolzano, focuses on the theme of identity, both individual and collective. The exhibition revolves around an everyday object—the blanket—which has long been central to Prenka’s artistic inquiry and is here recreated from scratch as a plastic work suspended between sculpture and painting. A constant presence in our lives, the blanket is also a witness to scenarios of conflict and a powerful reference to contexts of social marginality. The outcome of a residency at Lottozero carried out between August and September of last year, the exhibition represents the third chapter of the project through which the Prato-based laboratory for design, art, and textile culture explores Soft Sculpture and the use of soft materials in sculptural practice.

“This work,” the artist explains, “questions the relationship between word and image, between the everyday and the abstract. In this way, language becomes a living surface, capable of lingering between voice and silence.”

At the heart of What Lies Behind the Boundaries of a Shadow? is therefore a new series of textile sculptures in the form of blankets. The act of shaping them transforms emptiness into a sequence of meaningful presences, whose volumes are able to mould the space itself. Investigated in its transition toward a sculptural and environmental three-dimensionality, the work also unfolds as a narrative horizon that accommodates an embroidered text. The words sewn into the fabric thus acquire a visual and poetic, material and tactile dimension, assuming a condition of permanence that contrasts with their ephemeral nature and opens up a tension between temporality and duration. The installation is activated by a sound composition by Alessandra Novaga, which combines the blanket as a metaphor for care and protection with the evocative power of sound.

The works were produced using the digital embroidery machine of the Lottozero laboratory, provided on loan thanks to the sponsorship of Studio Auriga. The project was realised with the support of Toscanaincontemporanea 2025 and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol. Part of the project was presented as a preview during Bolzano Art Weeks 2025.

Barbara Prenka was born in 1990 in Gjakova, Kosovo. After graduating in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, she currently lives and works between Bolzano, Berlin, and Brescia. Her artistic research develops through installations and works that intertwine matter, memory, and gesture, exploring the relationship between care, transformation, and the stratification of time. Among her solo exhibitions are What time is it between my fingers?, curated by Zef Paci at A plus A Gallery, Venice, 2025; Covers, curated by Zef Paci, Gallery of the Ministry of Culture of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2024; and Dita e re, Kosovo Documentation Centre, 2023.

Selected group exhibitions include: Ventaglio, Clima, Milan, 2025; Re:nature, Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin, 2024; The Event of a Thread – Global Narratives in Textiles, National Gallery of Kosovo, 2023; Where Touch Speaks Louder, Marina Bastianello Gallery, Venice–Mestre, 2022; Drifting on the Echoes, Spazio Lampo, Chiasso, 2022; Cosmic Engines of Metaphysical Superpower, Schau Fenster, Berlin, 2022; What Do Landscapes Dream Of?, Biennale Gherdëina 8, South Tyrol, 2022; Venice Time Case, Galerie Italienne, Paris, 2022; Pesi Massimi, Spazio Punch, Venice, 2020; Etna & Paricutin, Centro Cultural Antiguo Colegio Jesuita, Uruapan, Mexico, 2019. In addition to her residency at Lottozero, she has participated in artistic residencies at Palazzo Monti in Brescia (2021) and Bocsart in Cosenza (2019). She is the recipient, among others, of the Euromobil Under 30 Award at ArteFiera Bologna (2015), the Emerging Art Award at the Francesco Fabbri Prize for Contemporary Arts (2014), and the Combat Prize, Painting section, in Livorno (2014).

The exhibition will be on view at LOTTOZERO, Via Arno 10, Prato, Italy, until 15 February 2026 (opening hours: Monday–Friday 10:00 am–6:00 pm; Saturday and Sunday by appointment). For information: +39 0574 22883 / info@lottozero.org

THE SOFT SCULPTURE PROJECT

For the 2025–26 biennium, Lottozero has developed a dedicated programme, through exhibitions and residencies, aimed at exploring the expressive and conceptual possibilities of sculpture made with soft materials and highlighting the versatility of textiles within the contemporary art scene. Although sculptural practice has embraced unconventional, organic, and flexible materials since the 1960s and 1970s, it has nevertheless remained largely tied to ideas of solidity and permanence. Seeking to expand the traditional boundaries of sculpture, the Soft Sculpture programme investigates the use of fabrics and fibres not only as a material choice but also for their ability to extend sculptural language, enhancing its plasticity and its relationship with space.

Within the research of the artists involved, multiple directions and themes emerge, ranging from the politics of the body to the social fabric, from a focus on process to the dialogue between painting and sculpture.

Barbara Prenka’s solo exhibition follows those hosted earlier this year by the Lottozero Kunsthalle, featuring artists Chiara Bettazzi and Liselore Frowijn. In 2026, the project will continue with an exhibition by Daniela De Lorenzo and will culminate in the autumn with the celebration of Lottozero’s tenth anniversary, marking ten years since the opening of its Via Arno headquarters in October 2016.

LOTTOZERO, PRATO, ITALY

Lottozero Textile Laboratories is an international centre for art, design, and textile culture, featuring a textile experimentation laboratory open to all, a co-working area, and an exhibition space. Located in Prato, one of Europe’s most important textile districts, Lottozero operates both as a creative hub and as a design and consultancy studio. Its mission is to foster a fertile environment for research and experimentation in textile art and design, while serving as a base for international networking within the textile world.