Fellini: Circus of Light

​The exhibition Fellini: Circus of Light is an introduction to works of the film director Federico Fellini (1930 – 1993) that unveils critical aspects of the Italian maestro’s universe. Known as one of the most influential filmmakers of 20^th century European cinema, Fellini is celebrated for his signature flair that combines fantasy and flamboyance within the social realities of post World War II Italy. His approach to humanism is based on his personal experience, blended with fictional narratives.

ADM Gallery 1 features an immersive environment based on one of Fellini’s closest themes – the circus. Dedicated to Fellini’s film protagonists, the gallery highlights the many characters in Fellini’s world, drawn from his classics such as La Strada (1954), 8½ (1963), Juliet of the Spirits (1965), Fellini Satyricon (1969), The Clowns (1971), Amarcord (1973), Fellini’s Casanova (1976), Intervista (1987) among others.

ADM Gallery 2 showcases more than 50 works from the collection of the Fellini Foundation for the Cinema, comprising of photographs, movie posters and original drawings that document Fellini’s vast oeuvre. Like pentimento seen in fading frescos that reveal traces of earlier work processes, this presentation is designed as a space that symbolises a labyrinth in light and shadow, and suggests a symbiosis between the grotesque and the sublime, and the sacred and the profane.

Fellini: Circus of Light is the collective result of many artists from ADM, practising in the disciplines of fashion, graphic, product, sound and visual effects design, as well as film and puppetry, working together to uncover the complexity of one of most compelling auteurs of the 20^th century.

Visit the Fellini: Circus of Light digital archive for more resources on the exhibition including the exhibition catalogue, detailed filmography, articles, photographs, and event collaterals. ​

About the Fellini Foundation

The Fellini Foundation for film, established 2001 in Sion, owns the largest collection in the world related to Federico Fellini and thousand other directors. These 15,000 documents, including drawings, photographs, scripts, letters, posters, artifacts, costumes, production stuff and press releases, were presented by the Fellini Foundation in fifty exhibitions and events in Paris (Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume), Rome (Macro), Venice (Palazzo Benzon), Milan (Gallery Cartiere Vannucci), Madrid and Barcelona (la Caixa Centres), Moscow (House photo), New York (Center548 ), Toronto, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo (Instituto Moreira Salles), in Switzerland, Lausanne (Musée de l'Elysée) and Sion where the foundation is based and has its cultural center. The Fellini Foundation has edited 25 publications including two books and monographs published by Gallimard in Paris. The Fellini Foundation established a cultural network in Switzerland and around the world between different partners sharing its cultural purposes. This project was presented to several international institutions, including the European Centre of Culture (CEC) in Geneva which supports our activities. This network of partners is far beyond the field of cinema and also relates to the art. Two partnerships have been concluded in 2012 with the Ludwig Museum Koblenz and Deutsch Museum, museum for Modern and Contemporary Art in Belmont-sur-Lausanne, which offers one of the best exhibition spaces in Switzerland. Finally, through these partnerships with the Cinémathèque Suisse, the Musée de l'Elysée, the Cinémathèque de France, the Historical Archives of cinema in Rome, Archives cinema of Cinemazero cultural center in Pordenone, la Maison d’Ailleurs in Yverdon/Switzerland, the Loubeau Brothers’ Collection in Paris, Fellini Foundation can also rely on more than his own collection to produce exhibitions about cinema.