Basement Roma Opens New Venue with Sara Sadik Solo Show for 10th Anniversary

Basement Roma celebrates its tenth anniversary by opening a second location at Viale Mazzini 128, complementing the original Via Ricciotti space. The inaugural exhibition, Xenon Palace: Crystal Zastruga, is a multimedia installation by French artist Sara Sadik (b. 1994, Bordeaux), marking her first solo show in Italy. The project blends fiction, documentary, and video game aesthetics, creating an immersive hookah lounge inhabited by smoky figures called Xenon. The narrative follows Zetrei, played by Èmile–Samory Fofana, a man who has lost everything and seeks solace in a dystopian, alienating world. The exhibition includes a three-day performance in April at the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, and a second chapter will travel to Kunsthalle Lissabon in Lisbon in June. Basement was founded as a physical extension of CURA. Magazine, directed by Ilaria Marotta and Andrea Baccin, and functions as both an exhibition space and an observatory for contemporary artistic research. The new venue, a former garage, allows for larger exhibitions and a renewed graphic identity developed with Dan Solbach and Emma Kouassi. The show runs from February 22 to April 21, 2023.