Domus contemporanea

For the occasion of the reopening of the “villa of Orpheus”, the Mart is organising the exhibition Contemporary Domus in the spaces of the Galleria Civica di Trento.

The exhibition itinerary reverses the gallery’s normal visiting route, starting from the basement and moving up to the ground floor - evoking the atmosphere of an archaeological excavation whose discoveries are brought up to the surface from underground. The exhibition Contemporary Domus documents the work of a broad and varied selection of modern and contemporary Italian artists whose research has referenced and reinterpreted archaeology and ancient history, not only offering multiple variations of classical antiquity, but rooting it in their own present and projecting it from the past into the future.

For the first time, the Galleria Civica is also involving four private galleries in the city, which have been invited to show the work of some of the artists they represent.
Boccanera Gallery will present the work of Federico Seppi; Cellar Contemporary will take part with David Aaron Angeli, Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery with Michele Parisi; finally, the Studio d’Arte Raffaelli will participate with works by Nicola Samorì and Carlo Belli. In turn, these galleries will dedicate a space in their own premises to the theme of the exhibition, creating meaningful connections and paying tribute to the reopening of the city’s archaeological space with contemporary languages.

Under the banner of a demanding and often conflictual relationship with memory, but also within the horizon of a new reflection on contemporaneity and historical heritage, the exhibition presents works by David Aaron Angeli, Francesco Barocco, Vanessa Beecroft, Carlo Belli, Luca Bertolo, Antonio Biasiucci, Bn+BRINANOVARA, Andrea Branzi, Giuseppe Canella, Giorgio de Chirico, Patrizio Di Massimo, Mimmo Jodice, Carlo Maria Mariani, Angiolo Mazzoni, Fausto Melotti, Luigi Ontani, Mimmo Paladino, Giulio Paolini, Michele Parisi, Claudio Parmiggiani, Gianni Pettena, Salvo, Nicola Samorí, Alberto Savinio, Federico Seppi, Ettore Sottsass Jr, Nicola Verlato, Francesco Vezzoli, Adolfo Wildt.

All the artists in the exhibition are engaged with the classical world in a dialogue based on appropriations and reinventions, and by rewriting them, they tend to acquire the forms, signs, figures and motifs of the archaeological imagery, often evoking the appeal of an art and culture known only through its ruins, its artefacts. The exhibition also pays tribute to the tradition of that cultural journey - the Grand Tour - which from the second half of the 18th century and throughout the 19th century guided the most important European and Western intellectuals to Italy, the immense theatre of a rediscovered classicism, also recalling that this journey began just south of the Alps.

To emphasise the connection with the Roman villa, a site-specific installation by Trentino artist Federico Seppi is positioned at the villa’s entrance: Urban Archaeology. Given that the villa is now located in the middle of the city centre, surrounded by buildings from the 1970s, the work inspires a reflection on the stratifications and coexistence of the past and present, overlapping and mixed.

For more information please visit Mart.