Mario Ceroli {IO} Exhibition Stirs Rome's Art Scene

The opening of the "Mario Ceroli {IO}" exhibition at 21Art Roma, on October 15, 2026, brought to the Italian capital a collection of works that question identity and memory, garnering significant public and critical attention.

What the {IO} Exhibition Presents

Curated by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi, the exhibition brings together fifteen works – sculpture and installation – almost all produced in 2026. The title {IO} suggests a reflection on identity as a problem of form, not as a certainty, and places the artist in constant dialogue with his own past.

How Matter Becomes Memory

Works like "Un anno d’amore" (2026) transform the 365-square wooden calendar, created in 1972, into 987 metallic elements, converting the measure of time into an affective record. The change of material from wood to metal alters the relationship between duration, memory, and perception, turning the calendar into an "affective accounting."

The Theater of Sculpture

Installations such as "Labirinto," composed of fifty elements, and "Le campane di Trinità dei Monti," a sculpture in iron, colored earth, and wood, create environments where space behaves like a stage. Sculpture ceases to be a mere object and begins to occupy space as an event, reinforcing the theatrical vocation present in Ceroli's work since the 1960s.

Revisiting the Past Without Celebrating It

The exhibition does not function as a chronological inventory of Ceroli's career. Instead, historical works are reappropriated and modified, such as "Curvilinee e squadra" (1965), which, in the 2026 version, is titled "L’architetto." This practice demonstrates that memory is not limited to the preservation of immutable images but transforms into a reservoir of creative possibilities.

The Role of Curatorship

Cesare Biasini Selvaggi, a profound connoisseur of Ceroli's artistic grammar, organizes the works according to correspondences and tensions that highlight the theatricality of the space. The curatorship avoids a reverential discourse and, instead, follows the irregularities of the production, allowing the sculpture to maintain its autonomy while engaging with the exhibition environment.

Impact and Perspectives

The exhibition will remain open until February 5, 2027, offering the Roman public and international visitors the opportunity to experience the materialization of memory and identity in Mario Ceroli's sculptural practice. The event reaffirms the city's relevance as a meeting point for artistic experimentation and reinforces the legacy of the artist, who continues to question and reinvent his own work.

With information from GBOPERA, Arte Magazine.