STUDIO PROGRAMMING
ONCE UPON A TIME: Photography as Incarnation of Place-FRANCESCO TORI AND LINDA ZAMBOLIN
a series of 35 hand-painted, and waxed photographs
opening reception, saturday january 10, 2026 from 1 - 4 pm
LINDA ZAMBOLIN AND FRANCESCO TORI, ONCE UPON A TIME - INCARNATION OF PLACE
Curatorial Foreword
“The landscape thinks itself in me, and I am its consciousness.”
— Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Once Upon a Time – Incarnation of Place presents a photographic body of work by Northern Italian artists Linda Zambolin and Francesco Tori, comprising thirty-five images that engage landscape as lived experience rather than representation. Printed on fine art paper and subsequently hand-painted with coffee and sealed with a thin veil of wax through encaustic methodology, each work bears the marks of duration, touch, and material presence—situating the image within a temporal and embodied process.
Rooted in long-term observation and proximity to land, the work reflects on how humans and animals adapt to space over time through attentiveness, coexistence, and responsiveness. The photographic surface operates as a site of accumulation, where image and material converge to register not only what is seen, but how seeing itself unfolds. In this way, the works resist immediacy and spectacle, instead inviting a sustained encounter grounded in perception, patience, and presence.
While Zambolin and Tori are unable to travel to Los Angeles to experience the exhibition firsthand, El Nido by VC Projects extends their inquiry by situating the work within an active discursive framework. Through a series of talks and gatherings, the exhibition opens a platform for dialogue as a ‘living field of inquiry’ with local artists, scholars, and audiences, expanding the conversation around landscape, time, evolution, and alchemical transformation.
This curatorial approach understands the exhibition as both spatial and temporal—unfolding through visual, spoken, and musical exchange. By integrating interdisciplinary contributions alongside the photographic works, Once Upon a Time – Incarnation of Placebecomes a shared field of attention, where land, memory, and creative practice intersect through embodied experience and collective reflection.
Victoria Chapman, curator
OPEN MEDITATION
Thursdays from 2–3 PM
Arrive a little early to settle in.
For the privacy and focus of our meditators, the doors will close promptly at 2:10 PM.
Sit in silence within the current exhibition - following your own meditation practice.
Together, we hold space to quiet the mind and create room for peace.
Enjoy a cup of tea afterwards.
Bring a pillow, blanket or mat.
To reserve your seat, please contact:
victoria@vcprojects.art
Note: we will be closed February 19 and 26th
talks and gatherings living field of inquiry
Talks & Gatherings
— A Living Field of Inquiry
In conjunction with
Linda Zambolin and Francesco Tori: Once Upon a Time – Incarnation of Place
This series of talks and gatherings unfolds as a living field of inquiry—bringing together artists, musicians, scholars, and guides whose practices engage landscape not as image alone, but as lived, temporal, and embodied experience.
Held within the intimate setting of El Nido, these gatherings invite slow listening, shared reflection, and sustained attention. Each session approaches landscape as a site of memory, perception, material process, and inner transformation—where creative practice becomes a dialogue between place, time, and consciousness.
Through conversation, sound, ritual, and informal exchange, Talks & Gatherings offers a space to pause, reflect, and engage the deeper rhythms that shape both artistic inquiry and the human condition.
PROGRAMMING
2 pm - Saturday, January 10 - Opening Reception
JOHN NATHAN LEGRANDE, TRANSMUTER, ACTIVATOR, HEALER
2 pm - Saturday, January 17, YURI BOYKO, INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTIST
3 pm - Saturday, January 17, ALESSANDRA PASQUINO - — PRODUCER / DIRECTOR
2 pm - Saturday, January 24, DAVID MATHER, SCHOLAR, ARTIST AND ART HISTORIAN
2 pm - Saturday, January 31, jL CEDERBLOM, ARTIST, PHOTOJOURNALIST
2 pm - Saturday, February 7, ANTHONY CARDELLA, COMPOSER, CONCERT PIANIST
RSVP - limited seating: victoria@vcprojects.art
SATURDAY’S PROGRAMMING IS AN INFORMAL TALK, AND CONCERT— WITHIN THE EL NIDO STUDIO OR COURTYARD SURROUNDING
IN A LANDSCAPE: THE PASTORAL TRADITION AND THE CHANGING SOUND OF NATURE
ANTHONY CARDELLA IS AN AWARD-WINNING PIANIST AND COMPOSER WHOSE WORK BRIDGES VIRTUOSIC PERFORMANCE, CONTEMPORARY COMPOSITION, AND INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION. HE HAS PERFORMED THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES AND INTERNATIONALLY, AND HIS PIANO SONATA ONLY THROUGH TIME IS TIME CONQUERED PREMIERED AT THE 2024 VENICE BIENNALE. BASED IN LOS ANGELES, HE IS ACTIVE AS A PERFORMER AND EDUCATOR WHILE COMPLETING HIS DOCTORATE OF MUSICAL ARTS AT THE USC THORNTON SCHOOL OF MUSIC.
3 pm - Saturday, February 14 - Closing Reception
ESTER SPITZ, WRITER, PERFORMANCE ARTIST, THEATRE-MAKER
all talks located at El Nido by VC Projects, 1028 ½ N. Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90029
Contact: Victoria@vcprojects.art