A leap more than 2 thousand years long in one breath. The exhibition at the Museum of Ancient Ships, by Paolo Staccioli, one of the most important living ceramists, is osmotic. Among Etruscan and Roman finds in wood, ceramic, bronze and copper, Staccioli’s sculptural works in bronze, copper, terracotta and ceramic emerge. The small objects, such as lamps or lachrymatours, are placed inside the display cases as if to deliberately mix with the finds placed along the exhibition itinerary. The find becomes contemporary, the contemporary find. “In making my warriors I feel Assyrian, but I also feel Etruscan in making other sculptures. We all have an Etruscan somewhere in us. It must be sought.” Staccioli says it, of an “archaic” character, of few words and of great humility. The exhibition “Paolo Staccioli. A traveler fascinated by the ancient” will last until September 15th. “For this occasion – underlines the curator of the exhibition Michele Pierleoni – the ‘archaeologies’ re-emerge from the repertoire of subjects, in a very relevant way, where the author represents capitals, arches, models of sculptures, deriving from the spatial suspension of Arturo Martini and of the original and at the same time intellectual metaphysics of the de Chirico brothers”. Culture councilor Filippo Bedini adds: “Staccioli exhibits ancient ships in the museum. The right place where our remote past dialogues with the contemporary”. Andrea Camilli, head of the Museum of Ancient Ships, captures the evocative aspects of ours: “A place of culture – he says: with different lines of narration, aimed at telling but above all at stimulating the visitor, it hosts contemporary works of art”. The event has the support of Castagneto-Banca 1910. Fabrizio Mannari, general director of Castagneto Banca 1910, also outlines the event in these terms: “This is a cultural offer, which follows the expansion of our commercial prospects, which in recent years, we are committed to an expansion of our production area in the areas of Pisa, Lucca and their respective provinces. This exhibition also represents our way of understanding banking (always and by territorial vocation) aimed at also offering moments. cultural activities which are expressed in various aspects, including the organization of exhibitions for our customers, members, friends and more generally for the entire citizenry”. The new director of the National Museums of Pisa, Massimo Dadà added: “The institute I direct has precisely this characteristic: creating bridges, creating new routes within a vast heritage such as that of Pisa”.
Carlo Venturini
