Luisa Rabbia: Travels with Isabella, Travel Scrapbooks 1883/2008
June 26 – September 28, 2008

During her residency at the Gardner Museum, Luisa Rabbia was inspired by photographs Isabella Stewart Gardner collected while traveling in China in 1883. For this exhibition, Rabbia has used these archival photographs to create a video of an imaginary landscape animated with her own drawings as well as other images and music. The result is a fantastical narrative that is both contemporary and historical.

Luisa Rabbia’s work is deeply rooted in drawing, which she sees as a platform that unites rational construct with the imagination. The dynamic tension that exists in drawing between the figure and its background, the being and becoming of space and time, has influenced much of Rabbia’s work with paper, papier-maché, porcelain and animation.

Luisa Rabbia was an Artist-in-Residence at the Gardner in 2007. She currently lives and works in New York and Turin, Italy.

Travels with Isabella Programs

Introduction to the Exhibition
Saturday, June 28, 1:30 PM
A conversation with Luisa Rabbia and Pieranna Cavalchini, curator of contemporary art

Summer Night
Thursday, July 31, 7:00 PM /7:30 PM
Gallery talk with writer and critic Mario Diacono
DJ Concert by musician and producer Fa Ventilato Buy Tickets


Animation and Sound: A Two-Part Process
Thursday, September 18, 7:00 PM
Luisa Rabbia and Fa Ventilato in conversation

Memory and Invention and Personal Travel Scrapbooks
Thursday, September 25, 6:30 PM
A conversation with Alan Chong, curator of the collection, and Pieranna Cavalchini followed by the book launch and signing of Travels with Isabella by Luisa Rabbia

The 2007-2008 Artist-in-Residence program is made possible, in part, by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Nimoy Foundation, and generous individuals. The Gardner Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The Boston Phoenix is media sponsor.