Augustas Serapinas installs Mudmen in Rome's Basilica Ulpia

Forof, the exhibition space founded by Giovanna Caruso Fendi in Rome's ancient Forum, launches its third season with a site-specific project by Lithuanian artist Augustas Serapinas (b. 1990, Vilnius). Titled "Baltic Adventure" and curated by Ilaria Gianni, the show features Mudmen—straw figures placed in the hypogeum of the Basilica Ulpia, once the largest assembly hall of ancient Rome. The figures warn visitors about the consequences of climate change, inhabiting ruins as a testament to a possible future. Serapinas also presents new and existing works made from fragments of late-19th-century wooden houses from the Baltic states, soon to be demolished, which appear as natural totems and wooden installations on the walls. The Mudmen evolved from Serapinas's 2020 project Snowmen, originally intended to collect real snowmen made by children in Riga, but an unusually warm snowless January forced him to use mud and straw instead. Forof will host a series of talks starting in December, curated by Gianni, accompanied by a food and wine experience by Rimessa Roscioli.