CRIT
first cycle of crit organised by viaraffineria
WHAT IS A CRIT?
A CRIT is a moment in which one or more artists present their work to the public. It is a collective dialogue session in which the work on display is discussed.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Every CRIT follows a set format: divided into a first part reserved solely for comments from the audience, and a second part in which the discussion takes place directly with the artist. Although the title alludes to the concept of ‘criticism’, in a CRIT all judgement is suspended in favour of a shared analysis that is useful to the artist for future perspectives or reflections. The dialogue is friendly and supportive, without any pressure or fear of passing or receiving judgement. We recommend reading this article, “The Purpose of Critique”, which clearly illustrates the importance and function of criticism: https://howtocrit.com/index.html.
The CRIT programme aims to bring the public closer to the work of artists who live, work or are passing through the Catania area, stimulating debate around current contemporary production on the east coast of Sicily.
Next appointments
CRIT No. 3, featuring artist Marina Velisioti, will take place on Friday, October 9 at 6:30 PM at paru paru.
Marina Velisioti (Thessaloniki, Greece) is a multidisciplinary artist currently in residence at paru paru. A graduate of the Department of Applied Arts at the School of Fine Arts in Thessaloniki, she has also studied set design, video art, and photography. Her diverse and multifaceted artistic practice blends various techniques and media, including collage, sculpture, tapestry, printmaking, and photographic printing (both analog and digital). Velisioti’s work is deeply influenced by themes related to psychology, psychoacoustics, and the surreal universes of science fiction and UFO culture. Fascinated by the intersection of past and future, her most recent series explores narratives drawing on ancient architecture, 1980s pop culture, and symbolic motifs, often weaving them into unusual, dreamlike worlds. In addition to her visual art practice, Velisioti is the founder and former curator of *Bebabebo*, an art fanzine published until 2013. She has participated in numerous international exhibitions and projects, including the Thessaloniki Biennale (2026), the solo exhibition "Monuments to Space" at the Untitled Gallery in Sofia (Bulgaria, 2024), the Turkish Textile Biennale in Izmir (2023), and the installation "Temple of Transmission" (2026) for the WOW Athens festival at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), among others. In 2022, she received the prestigious Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) artist grant.
Spots are limited, book yours by writing to info@viaraffineria.it.
CRIT nr.2
March 22 at paru paru with artists Silvia Muscolino and Lara Schilirò.
Silvia Muscolino (Catania, 1998) lives and works between Catania and Santa Teresa di Riva. After completing her studies and graduating in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, she moved to Catania, where in 2025 she is specializing in the two-year Painting and Contemporary Languages program at the Academy of Fine Arts. That same year, she was selected for the exhibition program of the "Coalizioni Isola" project by Isola | Catania (winner of the “Laboratorio di Creatività Contemporanea” 2024–2026 call for entries, issued by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity) and for the 6th edition of the SITU Festival artist residency program. Through painting, drawing, and installation, she explores new expressive avenues for a regenerated Feminine—one where cinematic scenes, inspired by collective and personal memories, define symbolic planes where idyll and torment meet and intermingle. Recent exhibitions include: “Come mi sento quando...” (curated by Barbara Cammarata and Mario Bronzino), Isola | Catania, Catania, 2025 (Solo Show); “T3ssiture”, Foro G Gallery, Messina, 2026; *Pittura Fresca*, Galleria Clou, Ragusa, 2025; *SITU Festival VI*, Palazzo Busacca, Ficarra, 2025; “Superfresh”, Galleria SACCA, Modica, 2025; “Forme Consapevoli* (curated by Mario Bronzino), Fondazione Amleto Bertoni, Saluzzo, 2025; *No Time No Space” (curated by M. Sanzeri, M. Mangiapane, and C. Callari), LOC - Laboratorio Orlando Contemporaneo, Capo d’Orlando, 2024; “Volàtile”, Galleria Massimoligreggi, Catania, 2024. Practicing Silence, Tracing Its Form, Galleria SACCA, Modica 2024.
Lara Schiliró (Catania, 2000) holds a bachelor’s degree in New Languages of Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania. She is the winner of the 17th edition of the National Arts Prize (Carrara, 2023) and the “City of Monza” Prize, awarded as part of the 2026 Youth Biennial. Her artistic research explores recollection, memory, and the act of evoking them, traversing distant feelings and painful memories. Through the use of found objects and photographs—amidst remnants of childhood and the boundaries of belonging—her work addresses loss, the resulting absence, and what remains of it. In an effort to remember where we come from and where we belong, she gathers and reassembles traces of shared memories.
CRIT nr. 1
February 28 at paru paru with the artists in residence Anna Belahlou, Sofia Yevlaninkova and Eldaire Terisse.
Anna Belahlou is currently attending the École Supérieure d’Art of Clermont, France. She is a member of the La Porte collective, with which she publishes an annual magazine. She has participated in two exhibitions: one at the L’Atelier gallery and the other at the School of Fine Arts as part of “M28 les chemins du vivant”. Her practice, a blend of video and sculpture, creates grotesque narratives inspired by Jan Svankmajer, Ladislas Starewitch, and Bertrand Mandico.
Eldaire Terrisse is a transmasc artist. He graduated from the École Supérieure d’Art of Clermont in June 2024. He currently works and lives in Lille, France. His production talks about fantasies, memories and queer survival strategies in an increasingly fascist world. He is building an imaginary where everything transforms, transitions and adapts constantly to changes, chosen or not. He invites the viewer to dream a queer and communal world, to lose yourselves in hallucinations of magical creatures that will transform your bodies, to travel in known but deformed landscapes, to imagine new ways to be together. His practice focuses mostly on images, building spaces and micro edition. He works with colors, textures and lights to tell stories.
Sofiia Yevlaninkova is currently attending the École Supérieure d’Art of Clermont, France. Her artistic practice is about paying attention. there are threads everywhere – links. she pulls them. the threads form knots. the knots are the stories, which happen on the way of untangling the threads, like little decalages. She witness the stories trying to tell them. she untangles the threads, meticulously or impatiently. sometimes the threads break and so her work is about care. and the condition of things and beings. and if the threads are cut, her work is about sharp things in life.
