Cesare Pietroiusti's First Museum Retrospective at MAMbo

Cesare Pietroiusti, artist and President of Palaexpo in Rome, opens his first museum retrospective at MAMbo – Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna on October 4, 2019 (opening October 3 at 6:30 PM). Titled "Un certo numero di cose / A Certain Number of Things" and curated by Lorenzo Baldi, the exhibition presents sixty-three "object-years" spanning from 1955 (the artist's birth year) to 2019. The objects are arranged in non-chronological order and include documents, photographs, records, letters, sketchbooks, books, and artworks. A key element is the 2019 super-object, a collaborative work-in-progress created with fifteen young artists from Bologna, housed in a ring-like structure at the center of the Sala delle Ciminiere. The project is supported by Italian Council and will eventually be housed at the Madre – museo d'arte contemporanea Donnaregina di Napoli. The retrospective also includes a workshop conducted at MAMbo and Grazer Kunstverein in Graz. Pietroiusti's practice, rooted in relational and performative art, challenges conventions by subverting images, contexts, and relationships. Notable works include "Bar di Radda in Chianti" (1988), which exposed hidden graffiti from a bar's bathroom door. The artist's background in medical-psychiatric studies and his involvement with Sergio Lombardo's Jartrakor group inform his focus on relational dynamics. The exhibition reinterprets the retrospective format as a new project, blending autobiography with artistic research.