In Diego Marcon’s new exhibition at Kunsthalle Wien, the Italian artist’s signature penchant for melodrama begins on entry. A Lynchian, floor-to-ceiling red stage curtain greets visitors, beyond which, the artist has covered the entirety of the museum’s ground floor in a matching red carpet, with a small island of red cinema seating the only feature in an otherwise empty space.
This dramatic mise-en-scene is typical for Marcon, who has previously shown his films in miniature puppet theatres (Dramoletti, 2023) and Renaissance-era Venetian hospitals (Nebula, 2024). In Vienna, the space’s transformation offers a fitting blend of spectacle and surrealism, elements that coalesce with unsettling effect in Marcon’s latest film, La Gola.
