Medioego: Four Artists Respond to a New Middle Age at Contemporary Cluster, Rome

Curated by Giacomo Guidi, the group exhibition 'Medioego' at Contemporary Cluster in Rome brings together four artists whose practices engage with materiality, technique, and individual consciousness. Guidi explains the title as evoking an apparent decay, drawing a parallel to the Middle Ages—a period of great ferment despite its reputation as a dark age. 'Medioego' signals a new era where individual thought returns to center stage. The artists are Gian Maria Marcaccini (born 1970 in Camerino, Italy), whose installation practice references 1970s German art and objet trouvé, culminating in the site-specific, apotropaic work 'Foldable #8'; Eser Gündüz (born 1990 in Antalya, Turkey), a Turkish artist living in France, whose colored resins with baroque frames blend Western 19th-century taste with influences from Picasso, Miró, Dalí, Baruchello, and Basquiat, inspired by Fontaine-de-Vaucluse; David Umemoto (born 1975 in Hamilton, Canada), exhibiting for the first time in Italy with contemplative architectural models resonating with Niemeyer, Le Corbusier, and Piranesi; and Giuliana Barbano (born 1992 in Catania, Italy), the youngest, who contrasts Umemoto's concrete with delicate vegetal installations aimed at shifting perception toward narrative and memory. The exhibition reflects Contemporary Cluster's concept of koiné—a common ground for diverse experiences.