‘Nostalgia’n’Exploitation’ by Chris Costa brings together artworks created in response to the I-CLAIM research project exploring the often-overlooked realities of domestic, care, and cleaning work, with a particular focus on the lives of irregular migrants and how they are perceived in public discourse. In this project/exhibition Costa navigates the complex experiences of Slavic migrants, with a particular focus on Polish women, who over the last few decades, have arrived in Southern Italy under varying circumstances, some by choice, others by necessity and found themselves caught between conflicting forces: nostalgia, exploitation, racism, and a pervasive sense of dislocation.
Nostalgia’n’Exploitation aims to convey this complexity, this conflictual field of forces using the media of photographic installation, video, music. The ‘Nostalgia’ aspect of the exhibition is based on vintage photos of the ’60 and ’70 collected by the artist, in which the viewer can catch glimpses of a communist idealised world. A kind of ‘paradise lost’ for so many of these women, who abandoned it with haste, only to long for it afterwards. The ‘Exploitation’ part of the exhibition juxtaposes the ‘Nostalgia’, with contemporary photographs and videos of Polish women, presenting their bodies, their ideas, and their struggle which wants to be acknowledged.
Costa aims to avoid the traditional, almost “pornographic” representation of immigrants by combining working in both the worlds of culture and journalism. The artist uses printed photography in a material way, as “objects”, highlighting the sculptural values of the pieces.
This exhibition is one in a series of exhibitions produced by Centrala, as a part of I-CLAIM project which investigates the living and working conditions of irregularised migrant households in Europe from an intersectional perspective. Centrala has commissioned artists in each of the research territories to create new art pieces responding to the project themes and research findings. The partner countries and cities include: Berlin, Germany; Utrecht, the Netherlands; Helsinki, Finland; Warsaw, Poland; Naples, Italy; Birmingham, UK and each hosting an exhibition presenting commissioned work throughout 2025 with a final group exhibition in Brussels in early 2026.
‘Nostalgia‘n’Exploitation’ brings together artworks created in response to research undertaken by Ca’ Foscari University. It aims to reveal the spectrum of irregularity in contemporary Europe and cast light on the everyday experiences of migrants. I-CLAIM develops the concept of ‘irregularity assemblages’ to capture how migrants’ ‘irregular condition’ is produced by the interplay of immigration and asylum laws, policies and practice, wider labour market and welfare regimes, and political, media and public narratives. The irregular condition is shaped by migrants’ social position and positionality as well as by processes that occur at international, European, regional and local levels.
Gallery: Puntozero Valeria Apicella, Piazza Enrico de Nicola, 46 80139 Napoli
07. – 11.05.2025 from 11AM – 7PM, opening event on 09.05, 7PM – 10PM
Every evening of the exhibition from 5PM, Costa will lead a guided talk of the works.
Centrala is commissioning artists in each of the research territories to create new art pieces responding to the project themes and research funding We will use participatory approach building relationships with local migrant and artistic communities. The parter countries and cities include: Berlin, Germany; Utrecht, the Netherlands; Helsinki, Finland; Warsaw, Poland; Naples, Italy; Birmingham, UK and each will host exhibition presenting commissioned work throughout 2025 and will final group exhibition in Brussels in early 2026.
Read Chris’ bio
Chris Costa (b. Warsaw, Poland) is an artist working with territories, communities, and social groups. They develop long-term public art projects with a relational approach, fostering deep connections with places and people. Their work challenges the economic constraints of the art system, focusing instead on duration, identity, and place.
They founded/worked on several public art projects: Progetto Isole (Palermo, 2005-11), N.EST (Naples, since 2007), Spazi Docili [Docile Spaces] (Florence, since 2008, with Fabrizio Ajello), Biennale Urbana (Venice, 2014-16, with STALKER and Officina Marinoni). In 2015 they worked in a Syrian refugee camp in Bar Elias, Beqaa Valley, Lebanon, through the e-scape. Transitional settlement project. In 2016 they documented the consequences of the Maidan square revolution and the war in Donbass in Ukraine. In 2017 they explored the Balkan route through which many immigrants try to enter the European Community: Greece, Serbia, Croatia. In 2022, 2023 and 2024 they represented Poland in the social theater festival Quartieri di Vita as Artistic Director and Playwright, collaborating with Antonio Nardelli. This work was also shown during the international festival Campania Teatro Festival.
Costa’s projects often explore migration, identity, and socio-economic impacts on space. Their practice spans installation, video, performance, and sound, using photography as a key medium to examine the relationship between place, identity, and memory.
