Aron Demetz's 'Autarchia' at MANN: Contemporary Sculpture Meets Antiquity

The exhibition 'Autarchia' by South Tyrolean artist Aron Demetz (born 1972 in Vipiteno) is on display at the MANN (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli) in Naples, juxtaposing his contemporary sculptures with the museum's ancient collections. The show features 40 works spanning from 2004 to the present, including about ten pieces created specifically for the Naples venue. Demetz works with materials such as wood (cedar, sequoia, maple), bronze, plaster, resin, iron, wax, clay, and glass. Notable works include 'Fiato', a carbonized wooden figure under a glass bell jar; 'Senza titolo' (2018), a plaster and iron piece placed near the Farnese Bull; 'L'attimo fuggente', carbonized wood figures evoking Vesuvian casts from Pompeii; 'Memoridermata', a large wooden installation behind the Farnese Hercules; and 'Reminiscenza', two sequoia wood nudes facing each other. The title 'Autarchia' refers to the artist's liberation from ideological constraints. The exhibition occupies the museum's monumental spaces including the Farnese Collection halls, gardens, the Meridiana hall, and the atrium housing Donatello's Horse Head (Carafa) from circa 1456.