APRIL 2026
SOUTH GALLERY
EPIC FAIL | Simonetta Mignano
This installation is the setting for a performative reading taking place on Friday, April 24 at 6:30 PM, a soft launch of Epic Fail 2009–2025, an artist’s book by Simonetta Mignano, released by Viaindustriae publishing in April 2026.
The project is a critical reflection on failure, seen through the presence of incorrectly drawn swastikas on public surfaces. The result of research conducted between 2009 and 2025, it reflects on how one of the most ancient and widely disseminated symbols—later appropriated by the Nazi regime—is repeatedly drawn incorrectly by those who attempt to reproduce it to assert ideological authority, turning the symbol into impressive achievements in failure and revealing their makers’ incompetence, which undermines the very claims to rigor and control they were meant to convey.
Combining humor, political critique, and personal reflection grounded in leftist perspectives, the project situates these graphic failures within a broader framework of ideological production and collapse. It considers how incompetence operates not merely as an incidental flaw but as an expression of larger political and cultural bewilderment. The project also considers these failures within a broader context of personal and collective struggle, where political defeat, absurdity, and laughter often seem to occur together.
This setting for the performative reading includes the music stands with the book cover and text, the score of My Heart Will Go On from Titanic and the flutes inspired by a YouTube-famous flute fail video. The sunlamp like the swastika in its ancient meaning—the wheel of the sun, radiating light. The two Polaroids were taken in 2023 in Naples, under the colonnade of Piazza del Plebiscito, showing several swastikas drawn incorrectly. The two posters are letterpress prints on fluorescent paper, which was formerly used for political signage in Italy, as it would be visible even at night. The books, CD, and DVD are a selection of references for the project, also cited in the book.
The project comes fully to fruition through the performative reading, where copies of the book are available. Hope to see you there.
simonettamignano.com
Photographs by Hans Hallinen