EXPRIMO

Curated by Chiara Nicolini

Exhibition promoted by the Department of Culture of the City of Rome and Azienda Speciale Palaexpo Organized by Azienda Speciale Palaexpo in collaboration with Gruppo Pouchain

foto Giorgio Benni

Esprimere (To express)

/e·sprì·me·re/

To express one’s thoughts or feelings, to explain oneself with words. 

“e. one’s ideas”  

EXPRIMO, curated by Chiara Nicolini, presents a selection of works by eight artists who range from photography to video, and from installations to sculpture. Maria Adele Del Vecchio, Giorgia Errera, Teresa Gargiulo, Goldschmied & Chiari, Micaela Lattanzio, Numero Cromatico, Santiago Sierra, and Catalina Swinburn start from the word itself, and through the process of linguistic deconstruction lead to a conceptual reflection, reconfigured in an artistic form. Each work aims to express a concept that immerses the observer in a disorienting dimension, challenging conventional modes of expression.  The works construct languages that are sometimes more explicit and other times more transversely related to the word itself. The exhibition guides us through a series of works that differ in genre and material, inviting us to pause and reflect in order to connect with what the eight artists seek to express. Maria Adele Del Vecchio (Caserta, 1976) uses language in its linguistic nature before its semiotic one, emphasizing the impossibility of renouncing it as much as its negation. She highlights how language serves as a tool of freedom, as well as cultural, political, and social identification. The exhibition displays three shawls which belonged to the artist’s family, each printed with phrases personally written by Del Vecchio, transforming the work into a space for dialogue, both private and shared narratives. The Untitled (no ctrl) series by Giorgia Errera (Anzio, 1997) features computer keyboard buttons arranged to form heterograms, words composed of entirely different letters. The two prints titled Quinto dominio (intertwined words) reproduce a combination of terms commonly used to describe digital technologies and their social effects. “The fifth domain” refers to the new immaterial space to be conquered. Teresa Gargiulo’s (Vico Equense, 1996) research considers language and its evocative power as starting points for investigating the world around her. Every element is questioned, analyzed, and decontextualized in order to reach a different point of view, as seen in How to Train My Ear. The starting point is the search for experimental phonemes—never-before-emitted and consequently never-before-used sound particles—to create musical compositions. How to draw an Island -Ruenmp is a fictional island based on language. The installation Secret Eyes Only and the video Stay Behind by Goldshmied & Chiari (Sara Goldschmied, Arzignano, 1975, and Eleonora Chiari, Rome, 1971) are part of the series Family Jewels, named after famous CIA documents that compile illicit activities concealed from the public between the 1950s and the mid-1970s. Contained within these documents are hundreds of pages of declassified records detailing the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. Micaela Lattanzio’s (Rome, 1981) three-dimensional works Nucleo - La Natura Inquieta, Biophilia, and the tapestry Cosmogonia use language as a guiding thread, intimately linked to a philosophical reflection on the contemporary condition of existence. Through photographic fragmentation, the artist develops a visual grammar inspired by the geometry of nature, interpreting language as an element in constant transformation. Santiago Sierra (Madrid, 1966), with his film Palabra Destruida (Destroyed Word), breaks the defined boundaries of language, imprinting the power of the image on words or involving them in various types of action. In Analepsis, a video by Catalina Swinburn(Santiago, Chile, 1979), written words become threads of a weave, the construction of a complex language that, from being spoken, becomes physical, until it gradually loses its true meaning. The digital world and the rise of social networks have led to a fragmentation of reality and society. To conclude the exhibition, we find The Desire for Knowledge by Numero Cromatico (Artistic Collective formed in Rome in 2011). A large installation from the Tulipani series, which visually intertwines text and image. It is composed of free-moving tiles created with the aid of algorithms and artificial intelligence. The immersive work leaves us with a phrase to ponder: The desire for knowledge is the essence of beauty. Art is the ultimate life creation.

foto Giorgio Benni

In Micaela Lattanzio's artistic practice, the theme of language emerges as a guiding thread, intimately connected to a philosophical reflection on the contemporary condition of existence. Her research investigates how our experience of the world is mediated by a complex network of connections, both decipherable and intangible, that shape our perception of reality and our relationship with it. 

Through photographic fragmentation, the artist develops a visual grammar inspired by the geometry of nature, interpreting language as an element in constant transformation. This exploration reflects the contemporary condition of a world divided between the tangible and the virtual, where the narrative of the present is nothing but a mosaic of fragments, incapable of conveying an integral image of the world. 

Lattanzio thus invites us to reflect on the impossibility of grasping a singular truth in an increasingly complex and multifaceted context.  In the works presented for the Exprimo exhibition, the body occupies a central position: it becomes both a privileged instrument of inquiry and a field of perception. 

Her visual language unfolds across two interconnected dimensions of fragmentation. On one hand, the molecular structures of her works evoke natural architecture: each fragment, stripped of its original form, becomes a matrix of shapes and colors, revealing unprecedented inner landscapes. On the other hand, the reference to the digital aesthetic of the pixel evokes a fluid, virtual corporeality, placing nature and artifice, physical body and liquid identity, in tension. 

Through this process of deconstruction, the body is reconfigured into a new spatial matrix, generating a cosmic alphabet that transcends the boundaries of identity-based language. For Lattanzio, the fragment is not mere disintegration but a symbol of the complexity of reality: each piece carries a plurality of meanings that recombine into ever-new configurations, inviting the viewer to an open and dynamic interpretative experience. 

Cosmogonia: The photographic fragments, deconstructed and reassembled in an orderly manner, create a molecular texture made of skin, eyes, and hair, evoking a stellar explosion with organic contours. In this space of blurred boundaries, the body dissolves to appear as Imago: an indecipherable representation that unfolds beyond all identity-based language. 

Nucleo - La Natura Inquieta: Explores the fluidity of existence and its profound connection to the universe, investigating the dynamic nature of matter in motion and the ceaseless evolution of life. The work highlights the deep relationship between the individual and the environment, emphasizing the human body as an essential instrument of perception and dialogue with the world. The fragments, free to move under the influence of external currents, transform the work into a kinetic installation that invites the viewer to a synesthetic experience, stimulating new modes of perception. 

Biophilia: Highlights the relationship between micro and macrocosm, aiming to evoke a sense of affiliation with nature. An intricate molecular mosaic composes a painting-sculpture that simultaneously recalls a satellite map and a cell observed under a microscope. This intertwining of the visible and invisible transcends the physical boundaries of the body, leading the viewer through a process of observation that transforms into self-reflection: seeing the world means, first and foremost, seeing oneself.