Sixty works on the mechanics of looking at Casa Rusca

The Casa Rusca museum in Locarno is hosting the exhibition «L'occhio dinamico. Traiettorie della percezione» from 6 August 2026 to 10 January 2027. The group show is curated by Marco Franciolli and was created for the Locarno Film Festival.

The project deals with the mechanics of vision in the art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. At its centre is the relationship between perception, movement and the construction of the image.

The exhibition brings together sixty works by Swiss and international artists. Among the names on show are Alberto Biasi, Gianni Colombo, Dadamaino, Franco Grignani, Florence Henri, Markus Raetz, Jean Tinguely, Grazia Varisco, Felice Varini and Victor Vasarely.

Six sections against the idea of a neutral gaze

The route through the show is divided into six sections and challenges the idea that looking is neutral. It starts from optical illusions and visual paradoxes and arrives at immersive installations that involve the viewer's body.

One part is devoted to anamorphosis, images that resolve only from a particular vantage point. The closing section addresses the impact of algorithms, treated as devices that organise and filter contemporary perception.

The opening coincides with the start of the festival and strengthens the link between the museum and the event. The catalogue gathers contributions from specialists and includes an essay by Giona A. Nazzaro on the relationship between perceptual phenomena and film language.

The project is accompanied by a publication from Edizioni Casagrande and by a programme of activities built with local institutions. CISA, the Mendrisio art museum, SUPSI, the Palacinema and the cantonal library of Locarno are taking part, with guided visits and workshops.

The exhibition is supported by the Department of Education, Culture and Sport of the canton of Ticino through the Swisslos Fund, by the Ernst Göhner Stiftung and by the Fondazione cultura nel Locarnese.

The run extends well beyond the days of the festival. Anyone visiting Locarno in the autumn or at the start of 2027 will still find open a show designed to hold a conversation with cinema.