Fiamma Montezemolo’s Anthropological Art at Fondazione Baruchello in Rome

Fiamma Montezemolo’s first solo show at Fondazione Baruchello, titled “Tra,” is part of the 3 x 3 x 3 exhibition cycle curated by Carla Subrizi for the centenary of Gianfranco Baruchello’s birth. The show takes its name from the Italian preposition “tra” (between), defined by the artist as the intermediate space, the measure of interstice and interval, indicating a tension. Montezemolo, who works both as an anthropologist and artist, explores creativity relegated to the margins. Works include “A Map is not a territory” (2012), a medical-plate-like image merging continents to show how “third worlds” are products of the first; “Unlieved” (2016), a 9-channel video based on observations of creatives in Italy who lead double lives; and “Sacco e Vanzetti” (2019), evoking the 1920-27 trial of the two Italian anarchists through archival fragments projected as a spiral on the floor and on lightboxes with colors alluding to the US flag. A new work, “Camminare, parlare, pescare, giocare, guardare,” a video-photo installation dedicated to her father, an unconscious artist with Parkinson’s, was made for the show. All works are introduced by Baruchello’s words from his “Psico-enciclopedia.” Montezemolo deliberately maintains a conceptual distance between works and viewer, reflecting her dual nature as anthropologist and artist.