Francesco Biondo alla Biennale Dentro l’Oro con Prima della Forma

Matter as Possibility, Light as Promise

From 17 to 25 October 2026, at the Castello Colonna in Genazzano, the first International Biennial of Contemporary Art dedicated to the multiple symbolic and expressive dimensions of gold.

Francesco Biondo is taking part in the 1st International Biennial of Contemporary Art “Inside Gold” with Before Form, a painting that engages with the event’s theme through a particular interpretation of light: not so much as an already defined presence, but as a possibility held within matter, something that slowly emerges before forms have found their own identity.

The Biennial, conceived and organized by the Associazione Culturale Studio 5 Progetto Creativo in collaboration with the Municipality of Genazzano, will take place from 17 to 25 October 2026 in the spaces of the Castello Colonna. The event brings together Italian and international artists working in a range of media, including painting, sculpture, photography, graphic arts, video art, and installation. Alongside the visual arts, 44 poets are participating in a project that brings images, materials, and words into dialogue. This first edition also includes the Critics’ Prize for Poetry, dedicated to poetic interpretations of the theme.

At the heart of the exhibition is gold, a color that runs through the history of art and civilizations, taking on multiple meanings: light, sacredness, knowledge, power, beauty, memory, rebirth, and transformation. The Biennial invites artists to engage freely with these values, allowing each of them to find in the theme a direction consistent with their own artistic research. Gold can represent preciousness and harmony, spiritual tension or vital energy, but also a glimmer of hope that continues to exist in the most difficult circumstances.

Before Form: What Matter Holds Within

Before Form belongs to a body of painting in which the composition seems to occupy an original moment, when the world is still undergoing transformation and forms have not yet reached a stable definition.

A deep blue field occupies the upper part of the painting, crossed by brushstrokes and marks that suggest a restless, constantly moving space. At the center, a large brownish-red form emerges—organic and ambiguous, suspended between a creature and a fragment of matter still in the process of becoming. Around it, earthy tones overlap and merge, while a transparent, milky presence introduces a further element of suspension.

Ochres, yellows, and golden tones emerge from the surface like small luminous nuclei. The yellow mark at the top of the central form finds a correspondence in the flashes of color in the lower section, creating a subtle connection between what emerges and what remains hidden. The light seems to come from within the composition itself, as though it were already present in the matter, waiting to reveal itself.

It is in this dimension that the painting encounters the theme of the Biennial. Gold does not appear as a decorative element or an explicit representation, but as a latent quality, a possibility of revelation. Matter preserves an energy that time, the painterly gesture, and transformation can bring to light.

Before Form thus suggests a passage that remains incomplete: the moment when something is coming to life while retaining all of its possibilities intact. It is an open condition in which painting does not describe a birth that has already taken place, but preserves its anticipation.

The Castello Colonna: A Place Where Memory Meets the Present

The Biennial is housed at the Castello Colonna in Genazzano, a historic complex overlooking the town from a tufa hill in the province of Rome. Its origins date back to the 11th century, and its history is linked to the Colonna family, who gradually transformed the ancient medieval fortress into an aristocratic residence, enriched over time with new spaces and artistic features.

Severely damaged by the 1943 bombing and restored beginning in 1979, the castle was returned to the community and now houses the Museo Atelier Castello Colonna and the International Center for Contemporary Art.

The choice of this location gives the event an additional dimension. Contemporary works enter into dialogue with architecture bearing the traces of different eras, in a space where historical memory continues to generate opportunities for encounter and research. In this context, the theme of gold can also be understood as a reflection on time: on what endures, what changes, and what is able to renew itself without losing its origins.

For Francesco Biondo, participating with Before Form represents an opportunity to share an artistic practice in which matter is never merely a support or surface, but a place of transformation and a repository of possibilities. The painting becomes part of the Biennial’s journey while leaving open an essential question: how much light may already be present in something that has not yet found its form?

Participating Artists

The section dedicated to the visual arts welcomes Italian and international artists. The participants are listed below:

Alberto Agrusa, Amata, Armando Armari, Carolina Art Design, Rolando Attanasio, Caterina Baccari, Salvatore Baiano, Antonio Bangrazzi, Elena Barazbayeva, Lia Barbara, Claudio Barone, Daniela Bazac, Roberto Bellucci, Maria Benedettini, Francesco Biondo, Vania Bizzi, Morena Bompadre, Valentina Bongiorno, Anna Bottini, Mario Bova, Laura Braghese, Irma Martina Cabano, Enrico Caiffe, Antonia Calianno – Muscèt, Marcella Carbonaro, Diego Catanzano, Roberta Catanzano, Sabrina Cecora, Daniele Chiacchiararelli, Andrea Chialastri, Roberta Chialastri, Patrizia Ciccarelli, Maria Cristina Consoli, Luciano Conti, Tiziana Corvino, Maria Coscia, Claudia Covino, Franco Crocco, Francesco Curto, Francesca D’Asta, Michele D’Auria, Anna De Fulviis, A. De Vita (JF Kramer), Piergiorgio Dessi, Rosalba Di Chiara, Flavio di Domenicantonio, Mariella Di Gennaro, Giuseppe Di Natale, Cristina Di Paolo, Marco Donnarumma, Giusi Dorn, Marco Eracli, M. Rosaria Esposito, Carlotta Fiamingo, Giuseppe Floris Serra, Nelvis Fornasin, Enrico Frandino, Morena Galli, Armando Gazzeri, Gloria Giustiniani, Carmine Grasso, Anna Maria Guarnieri, Rossella Guazzolini, Seriana Guerriero, Giusy Iodice, Gabriele Jagnocco, Bruno Gabriel Ialia, G. Carmelo Laudani, Luigi Lauri, Luigi Lenarduzzi, Vivien Lenart, Ivano F. Liberati, Pier Paolo Lorenzini, Silvia Manni, Gianluca Marini, Corrado Marra, Giuseppina Marrocchino, Anna Maria Massani, Marika Mazzeo, Riccardo Mazzoni, Christian Messaggi, Gianni Moramarco, Fulvia Morgante, Giuseppe Mosetti, Juliana Moura, Catia Nardocci, Veronica Natale, Margherita Palmieri, Salvatore Patucci, Paola A. Petrelli, Roberta Picardi, Flavio Pizzuti, Margherita Pomati, Luciana Ponticelli, Carmela Procida, Giovanni Procida, Italo Pulcini, Carmen Punto Arte, Antonio Rana, Valentina Rapone, Teodora Ricciardi, Mira Rinalda, Mirko Roncelli, Alice Ruggieri, Francesca Rusciano, Pina Salierno, Maria Carmen Salis, Roberto Santi, Silvana Santi, Milena Santirocco, Patrizio Scarozza, Bogdan Ionut Scinteie, Marinella Scognamillo, Lucrezia Simone, Marta Slavkovska, Smerafrida, Raffaella Stefanovic, Bianca Stinchi, Leda Tagliavini, Antonio Terrazzano, Pasquale Tessitore, Jessica Teti, Carlo Tisci, Lucio Tregua, Maria Felice Vadala, Emilio Valeri, Mariagloria Vendramini, Daniele Vita (Dado), Nicola Zampella.

Biennial Information

1st International Biennial of Contemporary Art “Inside Gold”
Curated by: Doriana Vriale
Venue: Castello Colonna, Genazzano (Rome)
Address: Piazza S. Nicola, 4, 00030 Genazzano RM, Italy
Dates: 17–25 October 2026
Opening reception: Saturday, 17 October, at 5:00 p.m., with Roberto Litta.
Closing reception and awards ceremony: Sunday, 25 October, at 5:00 p.m., with G. Gregorio Grasso.

Opening Hours
Monday to Friday: 5:00–8:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 10:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m. and 5:00–9:00 p.m.

Free admission.

Organized by: Associazione Culturale Studio 5 Progetto Creativo and the Municipality of Genazzano.
Contact:
Telephone: +39 338 686 9711
E-mail: studio5progettocreativo@gmail.com
Facebook: studio5progettocreativo
Instagram: studio5_Progettocreativo