Roberto Cuoghi's Alchemical Retrospective at Madre Museum

The Madre Museum in Naples hosts a retrospective of Roberto Cuoghi (born 1973 in Modena), previously shown at the CAC in Geneva. The exhibition presents Cuoghi's cycles as autonomous worlds but ultimately reveals a cohesive, unified trajectory centered on error, symptom, and disease as vital forces. Key works include 'Megas Dakis', a portrait of collector Dakis Joannou, and ceramic crabs from the 2016 performance 'Putiferio' on Hydra for the DESTE Foundation. The installation features cyan walls, a black sea with painted shadowy figures, and Pazuzu, an Assyrian demon-god sculpture in the mezzanine. The Project room houses kiln-sculptures from 'Putiferio', symbolizing the forging of living matter. The exhibition concludes with bird sculptures from Cuoghi's early experiments that led to his 'Imitatio Christi' at the Venice Biennale, showcasing material decay as cathartic rebirth.