“Rosa Sentinella” by Rachele Maistrello presented at Vinitaly

Zenato Academy opened a new phase of its international cultural programme with Rosa Sentinella, a project by Italian visual artist Rachele Maistrello. After four years of collaborations involving photography students in Milan, Berlin, Modena and New York, the Academy invited one artist under 40 to interpret the values and working environments of the family estates with full creative freedom.

Maistrello connected childhood memories, the oenologist’s anticipation of each unpredictable harvest and recollections of work among the rows. Purple cardboard silhouettes appeared among production equipment; shells evoked the glacial soils and identity of Lugana, while geometric forms referred to the family’s attachment to land and tradition. The laboratory—with its stills, scales and computers—became a setting in which handmade cardboard diamonds represented the analytical work behind quality control.

The title refers to the old practice of planting a rose at the head of a vine row because it could show symptoms of disease before the vines. The exhibition combined seven framed analogue photographs, a video evoking pruning gestures, a large textile print made from the artist’s negatives and a bilingual artist’s book containing more than 40 photographs and graphic plates.

Following its Vinitaly inauguration, the exhibition moved to Tenuta S. Cristina in Peschiera del Garda in early May 2024. Participants at the launch included Nadia Zenato, Rachele Maistrello, artistic director Luca Panaro, Veneto president Luca Zaia and Verona cultural councillor Marta Ugolini.